Genres in Children’s Literature
• Poetry
• Folklore
• Fantasy
• Contemporary Realistic Fiction
• Historical Fiction
• Science Fiction
• Biography
• Nonfiction/Informational
• Picture Books
Literature
• Poetry - Written or spoken, for exciting pleasure by beautiful, imaginative, or elevated thoughts it may appear on the
page as a single line, a thin column, or in the shape of a tree, but not in a paragraph
• Folklore - The traditional beliefs, legends, customs, etc., of a people; lore of people.
• Fantasy - uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting
• Contemporary Realistic Fiction - “What if” stories, illusions of reality. Events that could happen in the real world,
characters that seem real with a contemporary setting.
• Historical Fiction - Historical fiction books weave fictional stories into factual historical events.
• Science Fiction - The otherworldly elements in science fiction are based on extrapolated scientific fact pushed into
logical but unproven possibilities.
• Biography - Plots and themes based on a person’s life or part of a life history; letters, memoirs, diaries, journals or
autobiographies.
• Nonfiction/Informational - can be written as expository or narrative. They are non-fiction books that provide
information about a variety of topics
What is Literacy?
Literacy is the ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate and compute, using printed and written
materials associated with varying contexts. (UNESCO)
I. Emergent Readers (between the ages of four and five)
book should the pictures should tell the story with few words
begin to formulate shapes, letters, and sounds
Rhyme and repetition
II. Beginning Readers (Primary-grade; K-2 readers)
can name the letters in the alphabet and can tell you many of the letter sounds
they are building their fluency (e.g. matching a letter to a sound and decoding, more smooth, accurate and
automatic)
is beginning to recognize a few words within text or from a list (use of Dolch sight words, ex: Kindergarten: all,
but, there, under, yes Grade 1: me, can, before, here, see)
can identify initial and last sound
aware of the return-sweep (reading text from left to right, top to down)
aware of book parts (e.g. page number, title, etc)
III. Good Readers
Thinks about reading (is aware about the before, during, and after reading process)
Before reading:
o Good Readers create a mental overview or outline
Teachers should ask motive or guide questions
Introduce graphic organizers for learners to use for filling in information
During reading:
o Good readers read words accurately and quickly. They also utilize context clues.
o Good readers connect the meaning of one sentence to the meaning of another. If something is confusing to
them, they use their background knowledge to try to clarify the meanings of words and phrases.
o Is aware of the repair or fix up process (rephrasing the text into own words)
Teacher should ask for questions at every end of paragraph to check if learners follow.
Teacher should have unlocking or introduction of new words before reading
After reading:
o Good readers often think about, or reflect on what they read.
o They may mentally summarize major points or events in the text, or even go to other sources to find
additional information about the topic of the reading.
Teacher should prepare reflective activity sheets (e.g. journal, what if activities, etc)
Teacher should prepare list of references learners can access if they want to know more.
Qualities of Good Readers:
1. Interact with text
2. Have goals for reading
3. Evaluate text for important ideas
4. Note structure of text before reading
5. Make predictions
6. Construct, revise, and question as they read
7. Monitor their understanding as they read
8. Read different kinds of text differently
9. Process text during and after reading
10. Find comprehension of text to be productive
11. Create visual images based on text they have read
12. Draw inferences
13. Synthesize information
14. Repair understanding
15. Enjoy and appreciate literature
