Publications & Presentations

Classroom Storytelling Project
Funded by the Brady Educational Foundation and the Brooke Astor Foundation, the Reading Success Using Co-Constructive Elaborative Storytelling Strategies project seeks to improve the reading readiness of Latino children from low-income families through a teacher-focused oral storytelling intervention that capitalizes on the cultural forms of narrative Latino children bring into the preschool classroom.

Read our recent publications and see our recent presentations:

Melzi, G., Schick, A., & Scarola, L. (2018). Building Bridges Between Home and School for Latinx Families of Preschool Children. Occasional Paper Series, 2018 (39). 

Melzi, G., Schick, A., Scarola, L., & Wuest, C. (2019, March). Incorporating Latino children’s funds of knowledge into the preschool classroom. Society for Research in Child Development. Baltimore, MD. 

Sanchez, N., Wuest, C., Schick, A., Scarola, L., & Melzi, G. (2019, March). The role of oral storytelling in supporting low-income preschoolers’ academic language. Society for Research in Child Development. Baltimore, MD.

Schick, A., Scarola, L., Wuest, C., Schneebaum, L., & Melzi, G. (2019, March). Reaching teachers before they enter the classroom: Promoting pre-service teachers’ culturally relevant practices. Society for Research in Child Development. Baltimore, MD.

Preschool Children’s Narrative Development
Funded by a variety of organizations, most recently the Department of Health and Human Services, we investigate the narrative discourse of parents and teachers and the ways in which these practices support Latino preschoolers’ school readiness, with a particular focus on children’s oral storytelling skills.

Read our recent publications:

Melzi, G., Schick, A., & Bostwick, E. (2013). Latino children’s narrative competencies over the preschool years.  Actualidades en Psicología, Special Edition: Desarrollo narrativo en poblaciones latinoamericanas, 27(115), 1-14.

Melzi, G., Schick, A., & Kennedy, J. (2011). Narrative participation and elaboration: Two dimensions of maternal elicitation style. Child Development, 82(4), 1282-1296.

Schick, A. R. (2014). Home-school literacy experiences of Latino preschoolers: Does continuity predict positive child outcomes? Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 35(4), 370-380.

Schick, A. R. (2015). Wordless book-sharing styles in bilingual preschool classrooms and Latino children’s emergent literacy skill. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy. 

Schick, A., & Melzi, G. (2010). Children’s oral narrative development across contexts.  Early Education & Development, 21(3), 293-317.

Schick, A., Scarola, L., Niño, S., & Melzi, G. (2021). Beyond the written word: The role of text on preschool teachers’ book sharing styles. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy.