0–9 months – See this age across all domains Infants

What educators might observe

• Smiles, babbles, and laughs when the educator reads, sings, or tells stories to them
• Touches, feels, manipulates, and tastes books
• Looks at books presented by the educator

Ways educators might support the child's development

• Talk, sing, and tell stories to babies throughout the day
• Look at books with babies and talk to them about the images in their home language
• Hold the baby and book at the same time; involve the baby in repeating sounds over and over, which promotes playfulness, enjoyment, and engagement
• Include a variety of books in the learning environment
  • Cloth books with different textured pages that the child can safely chew on and manipulate
  • Books that have interactive components like flaps and holes
  • Books of songs
• Follow the baby’s lead; if they want to open and close the pages rather than reading sequentially, do so, talking about what they are doing

8–16 months – See this age across all domains Infants

What educators might observe

• Looks at a picture book with an educator and makes sounds
• Shows preference for certain stories or texts, such as lift-theflap books
• Smiles, dances, or sings along to familiar songs
• Shows pleasure when caregiver shares an image, tells a story, or sings a lullaby (e.g., smiles or vocalizes)

Ways educators might support the child's development

• Look at books with the child sitting on your lap, taking time to talk about the pictures they show interest in
• Point to the pictures that represent the words that you are saying
• Read in short spurts if necessary, gradually reading more if the child shows interest
• Use accessories to engage children in the book or story
  • Puppets
  • Hats
  • Stuffed animals
  • Dolls
  • Little toys

15–24 months – See this age across all domains Toddlers

What educators might observe

• Points to and names familiar people and objects in photos or books
• Points to pictures related to the text the educator is reading
• Holds board books upright and turns pages
• Imitates gestures that go with rhymes or simple songs, such as “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” or “Pin Pon”
• Listens to a story or looks at books for a short period of time
• Responds to storytelling and texts with short questions, comments, or movements (e.g., flapping their arms when a bird appears in a book)

Ways educators might support the child's development

• Create a classroom library including
  • Baskets of books
  • Bookshelves
  • Cookbooks
  • Coloring books
  • Books with photographs
  • Family albums
  • Plastic books
  • Textured books
  • Pop-up and lift-the-flap books
• Draw the baby’s attention to print-related activities
  • Read the subway map
  • Cook from recipes
  • Look at catalogues
  • Look at menus
  • Narrate actions as you write a grocery list
  • Discuss the mail
  • Point out and identify store signs
• Read the child’s favorite books many, many times, because repetition is comforting and promotes enjoyment
• Use movements that correspond with the songs and stories that are being read

24–36 months – See this age across all domains Toddlers

What educators might observe

• Contributes language from the text at the expected time (e.g., calls out “Caps for sale! Fifty cents a cap!” during a group reading of that book)
• Asks for or picks out favorite story to read at bedtime or during play
• Starts to point to words in the book and pretends to “read” them aloud
• Spends time looking at books by themselves

Ways educators might support the child's development

• Select books that are connected to a child’s life
  • Read books in the child’s home language
  • Read books that take place in the child’s community or culture
  • Read baby books to a child whose sibling was just born
  • Read books related to the child’s developmental experiences (e.g., toilet learning )
• When reading, emphasize connections with the child’s lived experience; while reading a book about going to the doctor, for example, point out similarities to the child’s own doctor, or when reading about a market trip, comment on the foods a child might see in their local store

3-year-olds – See this age across all domains Preschool

What educators might observe

• Makes connections between their experience and the experience of a character in a story or text (e.g., telling a friend at the park, “I’m planting seeds, just like Harold.”)
• Delights in stories and texts (e.g., looks at books independently, laughs at a humorous story, has a favorite book of poems, or treasures a birthday party invitation)
• Demonstrates emergent reading behavior (e.g., holds a book and reads aloud to dolls or stuffed animals; shows pictures or repeats memorized part of text)
• Turns pages of a familiar book in the direction that print follows in their home language
• Demonstrates understanding of narratives by telling and retelling stories nonverbally and/or verbally
• Asks and answers “what,” “where,” “who,” and “why” questions about books and during read-aloud sessions
• Uses background knowledge to connect with culturally relevant stories or pictures

Ways educators might support the child's development

• Talk to families about joining the library
• Visit the local library with children, and invite the librarian to visit your class
• Read books one-on-one with a child; allow the child to gaze at pictures in books that have caught their interest, and talk about the pictures with them
• Provide various texts, pictures, photographs, and books that reflect the home cultures of the children in the classroom
• When reading a book, if the children become unengaged, gently close the book and move on to the next activity
• When reading to the whole group, allow the children to sit in a group, not a circle, to promote optimal viewing of the text and pictures
• Display books at the child’s level so that they are able to access them throughout the day
• Keep favorite books available to children and rotate new books, including non-fiction books into the learning environment

4-year-olds – See this age across all domains Preschool

What educators might observe

• Looks for and finds texts that are enjoyable to look at or read from a library
• Participates in dialogue about stories, images, or texts in preferred language (e.g. says, “ También me gusta .”)
• Talks about characters in stories or texts, such as something funny that characters said or did
• Retells a favorite story or text in play, imitating the rhythm or structure of the story/text (e.g., creating a coconut tree from a paper towel roll and using letter magnets to retell the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom )
• Asks and answers open-ended questions about the meaning of pictures or texts (e.g., “How do the colors that the illustrator used make you feel?”)

Ways educators might support the child's development

• Before reading a book, look at the cover with the children; ask, “What do you think will happen in this story?”
• Use self-talk to describe comprehension strategies (e.g., “I see that the illustrator used bright yellow, orange, and red, and those colors make me feel happy.”)
• Read some story books from start to finish so that children may enjoy the plot
• When reading non-fiction books, pause on a page to ask and answer questions about the pictures
• Select and create texts related to children’s interests and unit of study to reread multiple times; create connections from these texts to learning centers
• Include books in all areas of the learning environment

5-year-olds – See this age across all domains Preschool

What educators might observe

• Expresses an opinion about a story
• Compares stories with one another (e.g., “In all the Skippy Jon Jones books, Skippy goes on adventures in his closet.”)
• Asks questions about the stories and texts
• Makes predictions about what will happen in stories or texts based on adult modeling
• Responds to stories or texts by incorporating characters and narratives from them into dramatic play
• Uses books to learn more about topics of interest (e.g., creates a map of the subway system based on text and their lived experience)

Ways educators might support the child's development

• Read a variety of books aloud daily
  • Picture books with shorter and longer text
  • Chapter books
  • Non-fiction texts
  • Poetry
• When reading, pause to define new, unfamiliar, and interesting words, and invite students to use them
• Summarize and retell stories
• Give children the opportunity to return to familiar books and stories, in order to play with storylines and characters (e.g., after reading several versions of Stone Soup , child writes “Stone Soup Recipes”)
• Activate children’s background knowledge and encourage them to connect texts to their own lives
• Build children’s background knowledge by helping them understand texts through field trips and experiential learning
• Create book time for children to look at and “read” self-selected books on their own and with friends

6-year-olds – See this age across all domains Early elementary

What educators might observe

• Listens to a nonfiction book and shares a personal connection (e.g., connects with text about a family from Mexico and the United States by stating, “I am from both places too.”)
• Understands and responds to a favorite part of a book during buddy reading
• Retells a story from a picture book (e.g., summarizes a plot about how a neighborhood transforms with mural art)

Ways educators might support the child's development

• Engage in extended conversation and dialogue about what children notice when they read
• Listen to what children say in response to open-ended questions and clarify, expand, or extend their ideas
• Ask peers to respond to other children’s questions and comments about their reading
• Use self-talk to model making connections to a story
• Ask children if they have ever had an experience similar to the character in the story
• Ask children to draw a picture in response to a story they heard read aloud

7-year-olds – See this age across all domains Early elementary

What educators might observe

• Reads independently for pleasure
• Paraphrases a part of a book and explains why it is important
• Monitors own comprehension and understanding in a variety of ways
• Reads an informational book to learn about an area of interest, using text features such as the glossary to find information
• Hears a well-known story told by a friend and compares it to a movie version of the same story, pointing out differences in the main character

Ways educators might support the child's development

• Scaffold thinking about the narrative structure of stories and books in a variety of genres
  • In fictional genres, think aloud about: 1) the beginning and the introduction to the main character, 2) the middle and the main character’s problem, and 3) predict or ask what might happen at the end
  • For an informational text, think aloud about: the main idea, examples, and key details

8-year-olds – See this age across all domains Early elementary

What educators might observe

• Reads all the books in a series
• Slows down when the text becomes more difficult to read
• Makes an argument with relevant details during a book discussion (e.g., uses information learned from watching a National Geographic television program to add to a discussion of a book)
• Reads a letter from a friend and responds to social questions
• Identifies an author’s purpose (e.g., “I think the author wanted to teach people not to be afraid to try new things. I’m going to go to try to do the monkey bars.”)
• Consults other books, maps, websites, hyperlinks, and photographs to enhance their reading

Ways educators might support the child's development

• Give children time to respond to texts in a variety of ways
  • Assign parts to act out a book or story
  • Encourage children to collaborate, improvise, and use props to perform the story
• Establish centers where children can make art or explore science materials in response to books or stories on a theme or topic