An important part of the teacher’s role is determining
the amount and nature of support that will enable
students to be meaning makers, participating in a
dialogue with the author and illustrator through the
text or with the readers of their writing. Although the
Books for Young Learners Collection has been designed
primarily for use in guided and shared reading and
writing sessions, the importance of the more supportive
approaches of reading to and writing for children are
also acknowledged. This resource focuses on using the
books for guided reading and writing, but the suggestions
can be adapted easily for other approaches.

Reading to and Writing for Children

Reading to or writing for children is the approach the
teacher uses when the challenges outnumber the
supports in the text or the skills that the children are
able to use competently to gain and maintain meaning.
In reading sessions, the teacher is the bridge between
the author and the children. In writing sessions, the
teacher is the author on behalf of the children or the
recorder of ideas and information for the children to read.
The children are able to observe a competent reader and
writer at work and to gain understandings about the
benefits of reading and writing. Although the teacher is
the reader and writer, it is the children who are responsible
for thinking through the message and for dialoging with
the author or their intended audience.