Presents a joint statement by various educational associations of concerns about present practices in pre-first grade reading instruction and offers recommendations for improvement. (Author/BB)

Maintains that grief and other emotional behaviors and feelings associated with the death of a child can be most effectively managed when they are acknowledged and shared. (BB)

Maintains that teachers can help students achieve personal power (autonomy) through emphasis on real tasks that involve thinking. Illustrates how this may be incorporated into classroom practice through two teaching strategies: incorporating higher-order thinking tasks--comparing--into the school day; and inviting children to offer their ideas.…

Reviews the environmental and functional print reading research and discusses its significance in relation to children's emerging literacy. (BB)

Describes procedures found to be effective for eliciting children's creative dramatic play in the classroom. A second-grade classroom scenario provides an example of the way key components of play training techniques can be implemented by the teacher and indicates the decision-making processes to be addressed.

Maintains that teachers' use of classroom poetry provides opportunities for children to respond to ideas, feelings, and events. Examples illustrate how poetry offers readers/listeners invitations to participate: invitations to identify with others, gain new perspectives, retell stories, move with the sound of language, and respond to one's own…

Maintains that there is a discrepancy between the ways children acquire language and the ways they have been taught reading skills in school, referred to as "The 180 degrees Syndrome." Attempts to promote more language-conscious reading instruction by describing five examples of the syndrome and suggests remedies to alleviate its symptoms.

Maintains that healthy emotional development in preadolescents can be enhanced when chilren vicariously experience laughter and tears (sadness) in their reading. A survey of 531 fifth-graders indicated favorite humorous and sad books of preadolescents. Lists books and suggests recommendations for teachers. (BB)

Maintains that infants two years of age and younger do direct social behavior toward one another. Adults play an important role in young children's social development. Developing strategies and planning peer experiences for infants become a teacher's responsibility. Recognizing differential influence of varying toys may be useful for such…

Illustrates the cultural differences (and similarities) of China and the Soviet Union as reflected in the drawings of each country's children. In China, children's drawings reflected friendship and warmth toward others. In the Soviet Union, children's reserved and cautious attitudes about drawing are consistent with the perspective of that…

Reviews the literature documenting the impact of an internal locus of control orientation for efficacious families and describes how support systems can enhance an internal locus of control for parents and children. (BB)

Provides a selective overview of social forces and problems (such as divorce, teenage pregnancy, one parent families, mothers working outside the home, and drug abuse) that will shape children's education in the 1980s. (HOD)

Discusses the societal values and behavior patterns that Chinese preschools reinforce and instill in children. (HOD)

Argues that structured reading programs, workbook pages, and drills do not alone provide an adequate basis for beginning reading instruction and suggests that experiences, knowledge, and other environmental factors ensure success in reading. (HOD)

Shares the experiences of a teacher educator who, upon teaching language arts every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon for a year, observed numerous reading and writing language experiences. (HOD)