Reports on how one teacher created a classroom environment in which the "Standards for the English Language Arts" were put into action through modeling and offering particular kinds of written language activities and other strategies that created opportunities for students to use written language for many purposes. (SR)

Presents brief annotations of 30 newly published trade books for children and adolescents that teachers find to be exceptional in curriculum use, that also make good reading aloud at home, and that offer interesting information. Groups books into primary, intermediate, and advanced levels. (SR)

Presents brief annotations of 49 illustrated children's books, categorized into the following groupings: multicultures, odds and ends, solutions, animals, individuals, celebrations, and settings. (SR)

Discusses the policy of silence (and its complex reasons) that often rules when it comes to teaching and learning about race, religion, ethnicity, and sexuality. Discusses briefly five books and articles that deal with breaking this silence, and offers observations about effective multiculturalism in the classroom. (SR)

Discusses some principles to keep in mind in facilitating learners' literacy development: recognize linguistic variety; facilitate authentic discourse; contextualize instruction on language structures within composing and comprehending; and design literature-based lessons with linguistic benefits in mind. Argues that, for acquiring English…

Describes how a third-grade teacher used a parent journal to keep parents aware of what was happening in school and to give them an open forum in which to ask questions, make comments, or express feelings. Notes that dialog journals can improve home-school communication and foster positive connections. (SR)

Notes that competitions can excite and motivate students in reading and writing. Lists a sampling of such competitions, appropriate for students of all ages, and offers tips about participation. (SR)

Describes a set of activities and materials using Language Master machines, combined with more traditional listening-while-reading procedures that helped emergent readers grow rapidly in reading ability and motivation to read. (SR)

Presents an instructional approach (a flexible framework) for helping students and teachers read, talk about, and appreciate full-length trade books. Describes how transactional literature discussions provide opportunities for integrated reading, writing, and talk sessions that encourage students to respond openly to literature and become actively…

Reports results of a three-year longitudinal study exploring the evolution of young children's ideas about reading. Finds that there was only moderate consistency in the ages at which concepts emerged and that the sequence of conceptual development was quite uniform across these children. (SR)

Offers the perspectives of a teacher and of a parent regarding education, literacy learning, and the roles of parents and teachers in supporting children's achievement. Emphasizes the value for and commitment to education in a single-parent, low-income minority household. Explores the myths and realities concerning relationships among culture,…

Describes "Reading Clubs," a program designed and carried out by two first-grade teachers in which small groups of students (primarily second-language learners) thought to be at risk for failure were coached daily. Notes that 19 of the targeted 23 students were successful enough to move with their peers to second grade. (SR)

Offers brief annotations of 99 newly published children's and young adults' trade books, voted on by school children from across the United States as their favorites. Presents books in groups for beginning readers (ages 5-6), young readers (ages 6-8), intermediate readers (ages 8-10), and advanced readers (ages 10-13). (SR)

Presents brief annotations of 43 children's books, grouped around the theme of flight: flights of imagination, flights across time and around the globe, flights of adventure, and nature's flight. (SR)

Describes the Literacy Pyramid (based on the United States Department of Agriculture food pyramid), a classification of eight instructional events, which is intended as a framework for teachers to think about the purpose of various instructional formats and about organizing time for language arts instruction. (SR)