CHILDREN’S LITERATURE AS A STRATEGY FOR EARLY READER DEVELOPMENT IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION: AN EXPERIENCE REPORT IN FIVE MUNICIPAL INSTITUTIONS IN TIMBIRAS (MA), BRAZIL

relato de experiência em cinco instituições municipais de Timbiras (MA), Brasil

Abstract

This article presents the implementation of the institutional project “Once Upon a Time – Telling Stories, Creating Readers,” developed in five municipal Early Childhood Education institutions in Timbiras (MA), Brazil. The proposal was designed by the Early Childhood Education Coordination and pedagogical supervisors based on a diagnostic survey conducted with teachers, which identified children’s literature as a priority need. The study adopts a qualitative approach and is characterized as an intervention-based experience report. The actions included mediated literary reading, reorganization of reading spaces, narrative socialization, revival of classic children’s literature, and family participation, including encouragement to reduce children’s screen time. The results revealed strong institutional engagement, strengthened teacher mediation, expansion of children’s oral language skills, and significant family involvement. It is concluded that the systematic integration of children’s literature, aligned with the National Common Curricular Base, contributes to children’s linguistic, cultural, and socio-emotional development, consolidating literature as a structuring axis of the Early Childhood Education curriculum.