Emergent Storybook Readers: Possible Compliments

Compliments / Always tell children why…..
Sulzby Stage 1-2 (labeling and commenting, following the action)
I like the way you are holding the book…
I like the way you are pointing at the pictures as you are talking about it…
I can see that you know readers turn the pages gently…
I like how you look at the picture to help you remember the story…
I like the way you are naming the things and characters in the story…
Stage 3-4(tells story with a sense of beg., middle, end using oral lang. / syntax)
I like the way you are using the picture to tell the story on this page…
I like the way you stopped…on this page to think about what’s happening…
I like the way you look at the pictures so carefully before you started reading…
I like the way you change your voice to make it sound like the characters in the story….
I like the way you told me what this character actually said…
Stage 5-7(transition between oral & written lang. / sounds like a reader but not watching the print / still based on memory of story)
I like the way you make your story sound like the way I read it to you…
I like the way you started your story by saying “once upon a time….”
I like the way you change your voice to make it sound like the characters in the story….
I like the way you used the character’s name…
I like the way you read your story in order…
I like the way you used the same words from the story…
I like the way you told how the character was feeling in the story…
I like the way you read the story so smoothly…

Emergent Storybook Readers: Possible Compliments p. 2/2

Compliments:
Stage 8-10(print-based refusal to read / child begins to incorporate other aspects of reading into the previous comprehension driven type of emergent reading)
You know this story so well…. I really like the way you make your story sound so real I can actually picture it in my mind….
I noticed that you know to point to the words from left to right, back and forth, top to bottom…
I like the way you found some of the words in the story to point them out…
I am so impressed that you know what this word means… this shows you are really understanding the story…
Do you know what you did that was so smart? You tried to sound out this one word, but then you thought what would make sense, and just kept on reading…
Stage 11 (children show conventional reading behaviors with a familiar book)
I can tell that you know some of the words in your starbook…..
I noticed that you know to read from left to right, top to bottom
I love the way you are trying to read the words as well as the pictures in this book…
I am noticing that you are working really hard and that you are becoming a really good reader.
I like the way you were able to retell the story so completely…
I am so impressed by the way you explained your thinking about this book…
I like the way you were able to show me the exact place you proved your prediction (or changed your prediction)…
I love the way you made a connection between this book and … (child-to-text matches with other books or unfamiliar books)

Marjorie Martinelli’s Primary Coaching Group, 2004-05

Teachers College Reading & Writing Project