The article explains how students keep work portfolios and exhibit portfolios to organize their written work and showcase their accomplishments in science; it also explains how students learn about scientific concepts through hands-on research and how portfolios are integral to the program. Teacher tips are included. (SM)

Three categories of graphs are discussed: real, representational or pictoral, and symbolic. Real graphs are very useful for teaching basic graphing concepts to K-6 students. Three steps in graph making are described: ask the question; collect and organize information; label the graph. A detailed guide to several graphing activities is included.…

Most students find poetry easier to write if they have some kind of framework for their words. Teachers are given a guide for helping students in middle grades write poetry, utilizing animals and their characteristics as a framework. A reproducible activity sheet is provided. (IAH)

This article describes how to improve students' notetaking skills by having them pretend they are journalists wiring in a story. Students must pare down information to the essentials and calculate telegram costs. Sample exercises and a reproducible page are provided. (JL)

A teacher shares her technique for improving student writing: add detail. Forget organization, cutting, and adding more information. Get students to focus only on adding more detail to information already included. Examples are given. (MT)

Learning-to-learn skills prepare students for the more complex skills of metacognition, which will eventually become a framework for all the individual thinking skills taught. Twelve learning-to-learn skills are identified, accompanied by suggested instructional strategies. The objective of these skills is to make students active rather than…

A system allowing students to evaluate themselves is presented. Students set the criteria, determine the rating scale, and rate themselves for each item on the criteria list using the scale. (JMF)

To begin formal thinking skills instruction teachers need a plan which consists of a taxonomy of skills, a timetable, and effective teaching techniques. This article presents a condensed version of an existing in-place taxonomy and a scope and sequence timetable which can serve as a guideline for teachers. (IAH)

This article identifies two approaches to teaching specific thinking skills, presents a sample lesson plan, and includes as an example a "Thinking Skills Worksheet" that outlines an approach to teaching the thinking skills of comparing and contrasting. (IAH)

Teachers are provided with several experiments for primary students that address concepts related to the properties of air, sound, and water. (IAH)

Suggestions are made for overcoming these common learning problems: (1) can't stick to a task; (2) trouble organizing time and space when starting or finishing a task; (3) trouble dealing with verbal information; (4) visual and visual-motor difficulties; (5) trouble understanding spoken language; and (6) trouble memorizing. (JD)

This article presents a rationale and technique for stimulating students' interest in literature. An example, featuring author Donald Crews, is provided. A list of authors of books suitable for primary and middle grades is included together with an author information resource guide. (IAH)

Several across-the-curriculum activities, with a penguin theme, are described. Research, discussion, science, writing, math, and art activities are listed. Included is a list of resources which gives sources for books and posters. (IAH)

Describes an easy, inexpensive way for students to create photographic prints without a camera or film. The prints, or photograms, are made by placing objects on photographic paper, exposing the paper to light, then processing it. For a class of 25, the project costs about $1.50 per student. (SM)

In a whole-language kindergarten, children learn language skills in a social context. Suggestions on how to develop activities that focus on a different letter of the alphabet each week are offered. These activities tie together all areas of the curriculum. (DF)