Emerging literacy is a vital concern not only for whole language enthusiasts but also for all concerned with helping each child extend his or her individual literacy development. By avoiding a traditional, behavioristic, reductionist, readiness-oriented classroom, the primary school teacher provides a greater opportunity for creating a natural…

To develop good reading habits, children must be surrounded with books, stories and reading not only in the classroom but in the home and the community. Children who read and are read to outside of school do better than those who do not read and are not read to outside of school. Parents and other family members should make books and reading aloud…

A study was conducted to determine whether a teacher's reading to sixth grade students on a regular basis would have a significant positive effect on their reading comprehension. Twenty students, divided into experimental and control groups, were pretested and posttested using the "Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test." During the eight-week study, the…

A study examined how regular listening to oral reading by teachers affected fourth and sixth grade students' reading comprehension, attitudes towards reading, and time spent doing independent reading. Subjects, 221 students from six diverse school systems in Connecticut, were read to for 20 minutes, three times per week, for 12 weeks. Pre- and…

The practicum described in this report consisted of a reading program that was developed and implemented to improve attitudes toward leisure-time reading with an increased book involvement among elementary students. A target group of 30 students in a fourth grade self-contained class was established for the program. The program contained three…

"Celebrate Literature!," a multi-volume articulated literature curriculum for grades K-6, intended to foster students' awareness of their literary heritage, increase their knowledge of story structure and provide examples of excellence in children's literature, is described in this paper. The paper also describes how by building upon…

Supported by a rationale for activities in the language arts/English curriculum, this paper demonstrates methods of introducing students to current approaches to oral interpretation of literature. The paper argues that through planning, rehearsing, and reflecting on oral interpretations of literature, readers become increasingly aware of…

This planning handbook is designed to help library staff and volunteers organize, implement, and manage a Read-to-Me-Club for pre-reading or read-to-me patrons, and those parents, family members, and caregivers who care for, work with, and read to pre-readers. Nine chapters provide: (1) an explanation and description of a read-to-me program; (2) a…

To develop young readers who will continue to read throughout life, reading must be taught in a context that encourages students to read and to love reading. Teachers, parents, and librarians can lead students into books through a variety of strategies. Adults can awaken youngsters' imaginations by reading aloud, introducing books by means of book…

Sixty consequential writing tasks are described in this source book to help elementary and secondary school students develop their abilities in written composition. The activities foster thinking by posing game-like writing problems that require students to use their minds in the ways that good writers do, and to solve the problems that good…

Children's literature provides enjoyment, entertainment, creativity, understanding of self, and the ability to reason. In reading a book aloud, the teacher should encourage children to ask questions and to relate incidents that have happened to them that parallel those in the book. Unfamiliar words can be discussed by using a beginning dictionary…

Children who listened to "William's Doll,""Giving Tree,""Bread and Jam for Frances," and "My Grandson Lew," changed their attitudes in the respective areas of sex role stereotyping, friendship, death, and risk taking. (MKM)

Describes a cooperative effort between public and school libraries which jointly sponsored such activities as library instruction and awareness programs, story telling and reading aloud sessions, and workshops for teachers, librarians, and media specialists. Contacts for additional information are provided. (CLB)

Summarizes interviews with adult illiterates enrolled in volunteer reading programs. Reports that no one remembered being read to as a child, and that interviewees recommended phonics, sound work, and word work to improve reading instruction. Emphasizes the importance of self-esteem, and of reading and telling stories to children. (MM)

Presents results of a study indicating that what young readers say when they first read is influenced by their previous experiences with books, the structure of the text, and also the accompanying illustrations. Points out implications for reading to young children, and for choosing early texts. (SKC)