Integrating reading and writing at the primary level is important because writing and then reading back what has been written gives purpose to both, and the sense of overall purpose enhances reading while the sense of audience enhances writing. Another reason for starting this integration with beginning students is that writing creates a purpose…

Drawing on thousands of "reading autobiographies," in which generations of students wrote about their experiences with reading, this book investigates what makes young people want to read. Chapters include: (1) Growing with Books; (2) Learning To Read; (3) Literature and the Human Voice; (4) Reading Habits and Attitudes: When, Where, and…

Compiled by members of the Reading Committee of the North Middlesex Regional School District (Massachusetts), this illustrated guide provides tips, suggestions, and activities that parents can follow at home to help their children read. The Clues about Reading Enrichment (CARE) guide notes that regularly reading aloud to and with children is an…

Suggestions are provided for teaching reading to retarded children. Methods discussed are reading areas readiness, developmental skills, phonics, independent reading, choral reading, group instruction, and individualized reading and programmed reading. Also considered are the effect of mental retardation on learning to read, the school program,…

The Maryland Plan for Family, School, and Community Involvement addresses the importance of families, schools, and communities working together to reach academic success for all students. To continuously improve public education in Maryland so that each learner from birth through the completion of high school acquires the skills and knowledge…

Examined associations between individual dimensions of the home literacy environment and specific emergent literacy skills among low-income preschoolers. Found that three dimensions of family literacy environments--language and verbal interactions, learning climate, and social and emotional climate--differentially foster preschool children's…

This essay discusses the achievements of early childhood educator, Vivian Gussin Paley, preschool and kindergarten teacher for more than 30 years, and author of 12 books portraying her work in the classroom with young children. It begins with a description of seven narrative tools she developed over the course of many years that became the means…

The purpose of Even Start, as outlined in federal legislation, is to help break the intergenerational cycle of poverty and low literacy by providing a unified family literacy program for low-income families. Even Start has three related goals: (1) to help parents improve their literacy or basic education skills; (2) to help parents become full…

Scores of children across the country do not read with comprehension, and literacy has become a national priority. This book defines and reviews 15 practical literacy approaches that teachers can use across all content areas and grade levels to help students develop essential literacy skills. This user-friendly resource provides strategies for…

Drawing on methods currently employed at St. Philip's College (San Antonio, Texas), this paper describes six strategies for teaching critical reading skills to developmental students. For each of the methods presented, relevant resources are cited, a step-by-step instructional approach is provided, and the purpose and goals of the specific…

Addressing the needs of English language learners, remedial readers, avid readers, gifted readers, dormant readers, reluctant readers, and readers in content areas, this book's goal is to help middle school teachers connect their students to reading. The book offers multiple lists of trade books that different types of middle school readers enjoy;…

This issue focuses on practices that can help improve reading instruction and includes two announcements from Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL). It begins with a look at study groups, the practice of teachers getting together to focus on instructional practices and student learning. Stacey Joyner, a staff member of SEDL's Texas…

The purpose of this applied dissertation was to examine the effects of a preschool emergent literacy program on young African American children from a low socioeconomic background. The preschool is located in an urban setting in North Carolina. All students participating in this study were identified as at-risk for school failure. The behavior and…

The National Center for Rural Early Childhood Learning Initiatives (Rural Early Childhood), a research program of the Mississippi State University Early Childhood Institute, and Child Trends analyzed data from two nationally representative samples of young children being followed in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study by the National Center for…

Focusing on the not-yet-conventional ways in which young children write and read--their nature, contexts, and significance for continuing literacy development, this book presents the perspective that children's early reading and writing behaviors are not pre- anything, but are integral parts of an incipient language process. Following an…