Describes a program that links literacy instruction and evaluation in a kindergarten classroom. Describes various evaluation events that are integrated throughout curriculum and across instruction; discusses the importance of planning to write and reflect each day; describes the organization and management of the evaluation tools and data; and…

Suggests guidelines for schools that are developing volunteer tutoring programs to help young children who are at risk for reading failure. Discusses the "America Reads Challenge," and what is known about volunteers. Discusses several components essential to the success of tutoring programs in reading. (SR)

Explores the use of drama as a teaching tool to promote students' interest in literacy and to support every aspect of literacy development. Describes how drama can help develop affect, emergent literacy, decoding knowledge, fluency, vocabulary knowledge, syntactic knowledge, discourse knowledge, and metacognitive knowledge. Discusses also using…

Presents brief annotations of 48 illustrated children's books that enable readers to explore the unusual, unbelievable, or unreal. Presents the books in the following grouping: unbelievable characters; coping with adversity; incredible accomplishments; unreal tales from real places; unusual plants and animals; unreal phenomena; and…

Argues that multicultural education, if it is to be effective and meaningful, needs to be woven throughout the curriculum. Discusses 11 children's books that take into account the age and maturity level of students as they tell forthright stories of the victims, heroes, and just plain folks of the Holocaust, slavery, and the involuntary of…

Presents instructional strategies that integrate syntax instruction with literacy instruction, while maintaining the integrity of language and the literacy process. Discusses using authentic texts and keeping the literacy process whole, manipulating sentence structures in context, and revising linguistic priorities. (SR)

Describes a study of second- and third-grade Hispanic students in an inner-city school, in which increasing children's access to books (through monthly visits to a public library) significantly increased children's interest in books and their reading at home. Concludes that simply providing interesting books for children is a powerful incentive…

Offers a suggestion to extend the K-W-L instructional activity (which helps young learners develop appropriate questions for research and organizing what they know) by adding another column: the "where" column, which helps young learners focus on where specific information can be located. Offers an example drawn from work with nine-year olds. (SR)

Presents the 38 most common phonograms (rhymes or word families) in rank order based on frequency. Notes that these 38 phonograms with added beginning consonants can make 654 different one-syllable words, and that teaching phonograms can be a definite help in teaching students to decode and thus to read and write better. (SR)

Discusses text sets as a way of grouping children to teach reading. Discusses what text sets are, why to use them, and how they are used. Suggests five steps for using text sets. Offers a list of six sample text sets of books on six different topics appropriate for use in first grade. (SR)

Surveys Ohio elementary teachers. Finds: (1) teachers of young children want support from families; (2) teachers of older students are concerned about proficiency tests; (3) technology was important to those who are in the classroom; and (4) smaller class size was the form of support that would enable them to meet their teaching challenges. (NH)

Reports the results of a case study measuring the impact of reading aloud to a first grader over a period of one year. Notes the student made substantial gains in reading and writing by the end of the school year, and that the student became a voracious reader of poetry. (NH)

Discusses the history and importance of storytelling. Provides specific suggestions as to how caregivers, teachers, and parents can help children become life-long learners and readers through the use of storytelling. (NH)

Describes a staff development project based on a literature discussion format that allowed teachers a forum for discussing their perceptions of common readings relative to current practices. Presents anecdotal and statistical results revealing that the study group realized increased effectiveness for the staff. (NH)

Shares the results of a yearlong project of staff development where teachers kept a personal inquiry journal and participated in group activities. Finds the teachers grew together as a cohesive staff in learning to appreciate the inquiry process, to value the interests of their colleagues, to develop meaningful curriculum, and to enjoy the beauty…