Assessment of Interest in, and Enjoyment of, Books/Reading: Observation Checklist and Interview Questions

1. In order for children to demonstrate an interest in books, your classroom should:
   • have a well-maintained classroom library
   • include books incorporated into learning centers, Structured Play centers, and displays
   • incorporate times each day when children have choices of activities and materials
   • include a Class Meeting or Sharing Time routine.
2. Assess all children in your class on a regular basis as their interest in books may evolve.
3. Assess each child for a week at a time. (A week is more likely to reflect a child's usual patterns of behaviour than is a single day.)
4. Select 5-7 children to observe each week that you are conducting the assessment.
5. Keep a clipboard with the observation checklist attached handy throughout each day. Some of the times most conducive to use of this assessment tool include:
   • Morning (or Afternoon) Meeting or Sharing Time (Do children bring books or talk about books?)
   • Center Time
   • Language Centers time
   • transitions in which some children are finished their assigned or self-selected tasks and can choose an activity while others are still working
   • Shared Reading
   • Story Time
   • visits to the school library.
6. Date your record for each child and store for future use and comparisons across time.

Children who show little interest in books or reading activities may require more individual support in order to develop their confidence and abilities to focus and concentrate on stories. Mentor-supported Literacy Development (p. 139) offers advice for ways to provide this. Reading for Enjoyment strategies may have to be modified with the structuring of a smaller group and shorter, humourous, or fast-paced stories. Informal conversations with caring adults will also be important for these children.

Sample Checklist for Assessing Interest in, and Enjoyment of, Books

Interviews with young children should not take too long, need not be held too often, and should have a friendly, relaxed quality. Children will respond best if they do not feel your questions have right and wrong answers, and believe that you are genuinely interested in their ideas.

Procedures for Informal Interview Questions Establish a schedule for having informal interviews with each of your students at least once each reporting period. Focusing interviews on children's interest in books and beliefs about reading will also help you understand the home context that influences their reading behaviours. Select a few questions from the list below and/or make up your own set of questions with an interested colleague. Do not ask more than 3 or 4 of the questions on any one occasion but ask the same questions of each child in your class. Accept whatever the child says without too much additional probing. Show an interest in their ideas. Share comments about your own experiences. Keep the atmosphere informal. Record each child's comments during and/or immediately following each interview. Sample Informal Interview Questions for Assessing Child's Interest in and Beliefs about Reading What is reading? OR What do people do when they read? Do Mommy or Daddy read? Do you think it is useful for them to be able to read? OR Tell me about who you know that likes to read/can read. Tell me why you think people learn to read/need to learn to read. Do you like to read? What do you like about reading? OR Tell me how you feel about reading. What do you like to read about? OR Tell me what kinds of books you read. Tell me about things that you read besides books. (prompt - comics, signs) When do you like to read? Do you ever read at home? OR Tell me about some of the times you like to read and places that you read. Do you have a favourite book? Why is it your favourite? OR Tell me about your favourite book/s. Who reads to you? Who else reads to you? OR Tell me about the people that read to you. Instructional Implications See the previous suggestions related to the Observation Checklist. Additionally, it will be important for you, as the child's classroom language model, to demonstrate your own interest in books, reading, and other literacy activities. Children who have not observed adults reading in their homes will be supported in their understanding of "what reading is for" through the incorporation of literacy materials into centers and structured social play (see Incorporating Literacy into Social Dramatic Play, p. 116 for ideas).