'Third spaces' are interesting places: Applying 'third space theory' to nursery-aged children's constructions of themselves as readers

Based on Moje et al.'s (2004) conceptions of `third space theory', this article describes how five nursery-aged children created a `third space' between home and school, in order to find continuity between home and school constructions of reading. This article describes how the children used various aspects of their home experiences, such as popular culture, television texts, computer technology and play to integrate the reading experiences of the home with that of the primary school curriculum. Yet this article also warns that many of these children's own sophisticated and valuable constructions could be at risk of disruption by the demands of the primary school curriculum, even from the time of entry into the Nursery year. It is therefore argued that educators within the Foundation Stage must find ways to accommodate and utilize children's own constructions of reading in order to build confidence and initiate success in a modern generation of young readers.