Experience a Practicum with Exceptional Children (EPEC), university lecture courses and practicum experience within a local school district, offered field-based teacher education on the needs of handicapped students. The EPEC summer program recruited elementary students who were gifted, learning disabled, educable mentally retarded, mildly…

The MADD (music, art, dance, and drama) About Good Books program is a summer Arts Impact program for students in grades 3-6 offered by the Columbus, Ohio Public Schools. Conducted by two literature teachers, the 1975 summer program got under way as the children set the stage by constructing a large tree, for reading and chatting under, and…

An elementary school reading-interest project was designed to overcome summer learning loss and to foster an interest in independent reading. The major strategy, "The Reading Interest Passport," consisted of nine independent reading contracts leading to "badges." This approach was selected after consideration of cost, coordination with ongoing…

Describes the Rensselaer Children's Summer Theatre (Indiana) which introduces children in grades 3-8 to the performing arts through experience rather than lecture. Examines how the program is run and discusses its applications to music education, emphasizing the benefits gained from incorporating performance experiences into classroom music…

A summer school program in Britain which emphasizes social skill training for primary school pupils with social and behavioral difficulties is described. The program involved direct behavioral training, encouragement of problem solving skills, indirect learning through games, and experiential learning.(DB)

This biweekly newsletter contains news and information about school improvement in the United States. It is designed expressly for parents and families. This issue highlights a pilot reading program under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) launched at 11 sites nationwide in April. The NCLB Summer Reading Achievers Program encourages students in grades…

Over the summer, many children lose ground in the reading skills they are building at school. Weave reading into the family's summer, and children will go back to school refreshed, excited, and ready to pick up where he or she left off. Advice for parents and caregivers includes: seek out books and reading materials that tie into children's summer…

Summer learning comes from reading books, singing songs, playing games, listening to stories, taking trips, and all kinds of other fun activities that kids rarely realize are actually good for them. However, this kind of summer learning can be more difficult for children of low-income and other disadvantaged families. Careful analysis of…

Teachers, attorneys, and law educators met to evaluate 1971 workshops in law education and to plan improved learning experiences at future workshops. Communication emphasized the teachers' desire for substantive background prior to teaching law at the elementary level. Attorneys argued process was more important than content. (JB)

A summer reading clinic sponsors workshops to involve parents in their children's reading instruction. (MKM)

Describes a University of Alabama program that trained a cadre of elementary teachers to use various manipulatives in their daily mathematics programs. These teachers received a set of manipulatives to share with others and were expected to conduct inservice programs for colleagues. The program increased use of manipulative materials and revealed…

Carnegie Mellon University's two-week summer enrichment program for mathematically gifted students in grades three through six is described, with attention to eligibility and student identification, a problem-solving emphasis, a typical day, staffing, instructional materials, and questioning techniques. The two enrichment courses involved…

Presents annotations of five documents in the ERIC database that discuss recreational reading programs. Presents two annotations of documents listing award-winning or favorably reviewed works of children's literature. (RS)

Study explored the perception of parents of campers with mental retardation regarding the benefits of summer camps. Parents rated the relative importance of 22 possible benefits and indicated 6 dimensions of benefits in an ideal program: social skill development, social competence, respite care, cognitive development, expressive development, and…

Suggests that readers' theater activities may help children with reading problems gain oral-reading fluency and confidence. Describes how readers' theater can be successfully integrated into a broader, multifaceted tutorial. Finds positive benefits of readers' theater preparation and practice during a summer reading tutorial. Presents classroom…