Children choose their own reading material much of the time. Skills are acquired naturally in the context of meaningful oral interaction and literacy events. Objects and learning centers in primary classrooms frequently have labels. Sets of directions, including information on storing materials, are written on charts or activity cards to guide children's engagement with materials. Teachers assemble classroom libraries of trade books representing unabridged, unsimplified literature.
Children have daily opportunities for uninterrupted reading.
Teachers model the act of reading and writing by reading and writing themselves while the children do so. Teachers model reading by reading high-interest, predictable big books, pointing out the words as the children read along with the teacher. Teachers sometimes guide children's reading, showing them how to predict, ask appropriate questions, and map what they have read. Teachers foster discussions of books, encouraging learners how to talk about the moral and ethical issues presented in literature, or to connect fiction with their own lives. Small groups report on information they have learned from books, or they select a cutting and present it as a reader's theatre for the class.