Students in prekindergarten should experience a balance of literature and informational texts in the context of instruction designed to create opportunities for children to engage with a variety of topics, and texts, and have discussions about texts that support language development and knowledge building. Creating this learning environment for emergent readers can take a variety of formats, including readalouds, shared readings, pretend readings, learning activities and play that incorporate literacy materials, talking, experimenting with written materials, and other literacy activities. We refer to these instructional events as ‘reading or literacy experiences’ because the focus is on using texts, printed and visual, to develop emergent readers’ concepts of how meaning is conveyed through reading and writing while building their language and knowledge. It is not enough to simply feature a variety of literary and informational text types in Prekindergarten environments and classroom instruction; these texts must be made accessible and meaningful to young readers as a component of fostering engagement with literacy to build language and knowledge. For example, educators should provide and engage developing readers with an assortment of fiction and nonfiction age-appropriate books in the library area that are displayed attractively and used regularly, rotated often; connected to instructional themes and feature cultural diversity; incorporate text materials into many different aspects of the classroom curriculum, including authentic informational text materials for
use in play and to guide learning centers; and select a variety of text types that engage children’s interests and support their learning about the themes under study.