Educating Young Children Volume 1 - Winter 2026 | Page 65

Miss Norline: And how did she feel when she met Amir? Charlotte: Happy! Because now she had a real friend to play with. Anna: She wasn’ t sad anymore.

Miss Norline: Let’ s go back to the book. What did the pictures show us on the page where Lubna met Amir? How did the illustrations show us she wasn’ t sad anymore?

Charlotte: She was smiling, and they were playing together. Anna: Yeah, and she shared her pebble.

Miss Norline: You both looked at the pictures and used them to understand the story. The author wrote the words, but the illustrator showed us Lubna’ s feelings too.

The energy and insight of these children demonstrate the power of small groups to cultivate early literacy skills. This includes building upon interactive read alouds: As teachers plan and guide small-group activities, they can tie specific literacy skills to the texts they repeatedly read during whole-group gatherings.

In my class of 12 4- and 5-year-olds, I worked to provide distinctive and meaningful opportunities for literacy development during small groups; specifically, in reading comprehension, oral language, and print awareness. In this article, I examine how educators can plan for and implement purposeful small groups to help build these skills beyond a whole-group read aloud of a narrative fiction book. I also examine how educators can assess the learning that occurs during these small-group opportunities.

In early learning settings, interactive read alouds are shared reading experiences where educators and children engage with a book together. Rather than reading the book from start to finish,