State education departments, in discussions with Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Southeast, identified low reading achievement as a critical issue for their students and expressed an interest in identifying effective strategies to promote the foundational skills in young students that might improve reading achievement. The Mississippi…

Because they're quick and fun to read, riddles can "hook" even reluctant readers and keep them coming back for more. Riddles also improve vocabulary, comprehension, and oral reading; enhance deductive and inductive thinking skills; and promote libraries as places for fun. Drawing on her work with children in schools and public libraries, Dee…

Seventy-six children ages 3 to 5 were individually read two storybooks that had been specially formatted to contain salient printed words within the text, and illustrations and text on left or right-facing pages. The reader pointed to each word while reading to half of the children. After each book, children were asked to recognize elements of the…

A children's poet offers suggestions to overcome the reluctance to read poetry, teach the difference between poetry and prose, help children follow their natural instincts, enjoy poetry, and share it with others. (MT)

Reveals how reading Joan Phipson's "A Tide Flowing" was an enriching experience to the students in a secondary school English classroom. (HOD)

Argues that reading aloud is an important motivational strategy for primary school children as well as secondary school children. Discusses ways of carrying out this worthwhile activity. (SR)

Describes how in order to promote social interaction among the struggling readers, the author decided to have them work in pairs at a table in the back of the room in the same way the teacher held conferences. Engages the struggling readers in retelling the story the teacher read aloud during the whole-class lesson. (SG)

Discusses the advantages of partnership reading (pairs of students alternately read to each other orally) for both teachers and young children, claiming that where there is clear focus this activity will build fluency. (NH)

Presents a read-aloud from Mark Twain's "Life on the Mississippi" and describes its use (and class activities for it) in algebra and geography classes. (SR)

Offers examples of the kind of story exploration the author carries out with adults or children to discover as much about the story as they can. Notes that nursery rhymes are effective for this exploration. (RS)

Describes using a passage from the book "Raney" by Clyde Edgerton as a read-aloud in social studies and language arts classrooms to explore value conflicts, understand cultures, study dialog and to introduce drama. (SR)

Argues that children can be encouraged to develop a lifelong devotion to books through the act of adults reading aloud to children. Considers why this strategy works and outlines better applications of it. Concludes that reading aloud to children has many benefits, especially when used in a literature-based approach. (HB)

Because models with dual-route architecture can explain six identified basic facts about reading, the authors suggest that this remains the workable architecture for any tenable model of reading and learning to read. The dual-route cascaded model, a computational version of the dual-route model, is described. (SLD)

Discussion of the use of movement in writing classes focuses on a poetry class for eight- to twelve-year-olds that incorporated basketball. Describes listening to the sounds of basketball, recalling memories of basketball, breathing and movement, reading aloud to others, revisions, and public reading for families and friends. (LRW)

New research shows that certain conditions surrounding read-alouds will ensure the greatest benefits. Suggestions for getting the most out of reading aloud include: engage students' interests; make sure the books are at the right difficulty level; spend an appropriate amount of time on reading aloud; offer a range of materials to read aloud; and…