Looks at the lives of two well-known writers to explore how diverse experiences produce literate adults. Discusses Agatha Christie and Jack London who used reading and writing to earn a living and to gain international reputations. (MG)

Presents the following six articles on working with parents: (1) "Conversing with Parents through Dialogue Journals"; (2) "Reading with Your Child at Home"; (3) "Dads by the Dozens"; (4) "Parents in Your Classroom: A Valuable Literacy Link"; (5) "Inclusion: But They Still Won't Play with Me"; and…

Discusses ways in which library media specialists can help teachers who are using the whole language approach. Topics addressed include reading aloud to children; wordless picture books; decoding; writing; core literature selections; automaticity in reading; independent reading; re-reading; reading across the curriculum; literature as content; and…

Explains how parents can be their baby's partners in the "dance of development" by understanding the milestones, windows, and prerequisites of child development; by giving their baby the power and treasure of language; and by teaching their baby about kindness and beauty. (BB)

Discusses the development, implementation and implications of the Parent Assisted Reading Program at the Sunrise School in northern Utah which serves half-day kindergarten children. This program was designed to increase volunteer participation by parents in early (storybook) reading activities in the schools. (BB)

Discusses how children's books can engage students in communicating mathematical ideas. Describes situations in which teachers use literature as a stimulus for thinking, listening, writing, speaking, and reading about mathematics. (12 references) (MDH)

Describes a project undertaken by the Queensland University of Technology (Brisbane, Australia) to develop a booklet on the importance of reading to young children and distribute it to all mothers in maternity hospitals in Queensland. Discusses the conceptualization of the booklet, fund-raising tasks, and distribution. Reports on further…

Discusses the practical implications from Lonigan and Whitehurst's study regarding strengthening the skills of teachers and parents that will subsequently improve language and emerging literacy skills in preschoolers. Maintains that one of the most important outcomes of the dialogic reading intervention is the notion that adults can learn to…

Raises questions concerning the research methodology and related issues arising from Lonigan and Whitehurst's study: (1) degree of parent compliance in implementing the intervention; (2) effect of the parents' education level; (3) potential effects of other manipulations of the home environment to increase access to literacy materials; and (4)…

Offers suggestions for designing a flexible schedule for an elementary school library media center. Discusses book check-out times; classroom collaboration and coordination projects; read-aloud and storytimes; information literacy or research projects; library director planning time; special activities; and maintenance and record keeping. (LRW)

Promotion of literacy is one of the easiest and most beneficial ways to form collaboration among parents, teachers, and community. This article offers ideas from teachers, professional organizations, and the U.S. Department of Education on how to develop parent participation in the promotion of literacy at children's various levels of development.…

A study investigated use of various test accommodations for 3,025 third-graders, 2,990 seventh-graders, and 796 eleventh-graders with disabilities in Missouri. Three accommodations (extended time, small-group administration, and read-aloud) accounted for nearly all of the students using an accommodation. Students using one accommodation were…

Teacher educators are often searching for methods and/or techniques to enhance and expand the content of their courses. As teacher educators, we do not want to introduce new methodology that detracts our students' attention away from the course content. However, we need to keep our courses current and interesting for ourselves as well as for our…

Although many may think that a child learns to read in kindergarten or first grade, research indicates that learning to read and write can start at home, long before children go to school. Children can start down the road to becoming readers from the day they are born. Very early, children begin to learn about spoken language when they hear family…

This study examined the feasibility of a parent-toddler reading program offered as a community-based intervention in one urban and one rural community with widespread poverty and low educational attainment. Fifty-eight families including 61 children, most of whom were 2 or 3 years of age, participated. During the intervention, parents learned an…