Identifies a variety of methods to introduce constellations and asterisms to students in the classroom and planetarium prior to their study of the night sky. Materials used include transparencies, oatmeal boxes, photographic slides, and tracing paper. Exercises incorporate storytelling and prediction of location, movement, and seasonal patterns of…

Investigates to what extent children were given opportunities to engage in process writing. Finds a textbook orientation to language instruction, small amounts of time spent in prewriting or writing activities, and a preference for teacher-controlled writing processes. (SR)

A teacher of high school gifted students discusses his experiences, noting the importance of teacher humility; teacher involvement; making "basics" interesting; focusing on relevance; understanding common tactics of these students; and sharing ideas for "trapping" students into enjoying the humanities, social studies, and language arts. (DB)

Relates how one teacher restructured her classroom to use reading and writing workshops. Describes how three at-risk students in her classroom, in the course of the academic year, moved from being at risk of academic failure to being on the path to promise and success. (SR)

Describes the organization of a multidisciplinary unit on inventions and inventors. Teachers can use journals, quotations, classroom museums, and learning centers to help develop their students' language, mathematics, science, social studies, and science skills. Includes a list of books for students and teachers on inventions. (MDM)

Explains how teachers can use graphs and graphing concepts when teaching art, language arts, history, social studies, and science. Students can graph the lifespans of the Ninja Turtles' Renaissance namesakes (Donatello, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Leonardo da Vinci) or world population growth. (MDM)

Describes an outdoor summer science program for Seneca Indian children in grades 5-7 that featured weekly outdoor topics integrating science, traditional Native American/Seneca culture, and skills in reading and language arts. Daily activities included field trips, community guests, storytelling, and individual and group projects. (LP)

Presents a dialogue between a university faculty member and an elementary teacher. Explores the rich relationship afforded by collaborative efforts. Demonstrates how the connections of methods courses to classroom settings can strengthen preservice training for beginning teachers. (HB)

A checklist is provided for assessing common reading problems. Columns list matched sets of target skills, related skills, and possible problem behaviors. Skills are divided into sections on prereading, word recognition, and comprehension. An additional checklist can be used to note facilitative factors observed to aid a student's progress. (PB)

Examines elementary literature instruction in Stanford University's Teacher Assessment Project (TAP). TAP candidates carried out exercises assessing their classroom instructional abilities. A study used data from the exercises to discuss best practice in teaching literature, noting that certain exercises were amenable to professional growth and…

Describes instruction in language arts, mathematics, computers, physical education, sciences, and social studies at O'Farrell Community School. Notes that students are taught by interdisciplinary teams of six teachers. (PRA)

Demonstrates how a real first grade teacher in a real classroom covers district objectives for reading and language arts within the context of a whole language philosophy. Illustrates how the teacher recognizes the needs of the students and encourages them to participate in making decisions about what activities are included in the unit. (MG)

Notes that much of the new instructional software has been disappointing in terms of its appropriateness for young children. Reviews several programs notable for their developmental appropriateness in the areas of creative arts, language arts, thematic approaches, and computer accessibility. (HTH)

Provides an annotated list of 10 items from the ERIC database about integrated curriculum and instruction. (CFR)

Discusses how gifted students can experience the musical and pictorial magic of language through storytelling. Techniques and activities to be used in the general classroom or gifted pull-out programs are presented for sharing personal expression, the joy of language, and new styles of thought and expression. (CR)