Explores issues of access, gender, and collaboration as they relate to a middle-school class and its magazine project that developed the school's first online literary and art magazine. Presents one way that writing for online publication fits within a language-arts curriculum. Addresses ways collaboration between a university teacher, a…

Discusses the use of children's literature to integrate language arts and mathematical problem solving in the middle school classroom. Considers selecting a book and writing the language arts and problem solving lessons; describes the process of creating and solving a mathematical problem based on a story. (JPB)

Introduces the Science and Math Investigative Learning Experiences (SMILE) program. Presents an air quality problem as an example of an integrated challenge problem activity developed by the SMILE program. Explains the process of challenge problems and provides a list of the National Science Education Standards addressed by challenge problems.…

Discusses the use of rubrics in the music classroom, focusing on a description of rubrics, using rubrics for writing assignments and to assess performance and instruction, obtaining student input when creating rubrics, and the benefits of rubrics. Provides sample rubrics. (CMK)

Presents a list of World Wide Web sites that can help teachers with research assignments, curriculum boosters, and class activities. The sites include gateways to learning, mathematics references, social studies references, language arts references, and science references. Each listing includes the name, the Web address, and a brief description.…

Presents a selection of activities for a cross-curricular unit based on vegetables. Activities address vocabulary, language arts, social studies, and health education. A student reproducible presents a tossed salad game. Game cards can be incorporated into the other activities. A poster describes plant parts that are edible. A sidebar offers…

Highlights some causes for silence in schoolgirls and other marginalized students. Suggests ways teachers can help these students participate more fully as speakers and writers in language arts classes. Shows how language arts instruction can change students' attitudes about themselves as gendered subjects, agents, and communicators. (SR)

Explores the gendered nature of talk in one multicultural, eighth-grade classroom, discussing how talk is an integral part of engendering. Looks at how the genderlects "Boy Talk" and "Girl Talk" contributed to classroom inequities. Offers suggestions to teachers for ways to validate and utilize the girls' discourse practices to their advantage,…

Daniel A. Grout School in southeast Portland, Oregon, built a unified literacy program that sparked change across the school. The "literacy block" program, which focuses on teacher collaboration, early intervention, and higher-order thinking skills, began in 1996 as a Title I Schoolwide program. In 1998, Grout staff received "early…

Discusses a French immersion program in Louisiana, highlighting indications that students in the program are scoring higher on the state's mandated standardized tests than students in the district not participating in the program. Attempting to overcome deficits in language immersion research using testing and demographic data from a large sample…

Highlights the life of Anne Goldthwaite focusing particularly on her lithographic print entitled "Dog Baying at the Moon" and the meaning behind this artwork. Provides activities for visual arts, science, social studies, and language arts. Discusses how to make a white-line lithograph. (CMK)

Focuses on fifth- and sixth-grade students writing about music using three types of description: metaphor and emotion, analytic elements of music, and temporal change and sequence. (CMK)

Presents annotations of 30 children's books published in 2000, vivid in language and diverse in genre, content, and style, selected as notable for their potential to enhance language awareness for children in grades K-8. (SG)

This study examined the effect of 3rd-grade language arts instruction on growth in children's reading comprehension skills and the degree to which the impact of instruction depended on the language and reading skills children brought to the classroom. Classrooms were observed in the fall, winter, and spring, and language arts activities were coded…

As the debate over the value of computerized reading management programs continues, teacher-librarians should consider how they may be used together with a reading skills program to help schools implement a balanced literacy program. Such a program would promote collaboration and help teachers to implement differentiated instruction. Reading…