This paper describes a comprehensive set of studies designed to assess the potential for commercial reading programs to teach reading in science. Specific questions focus on the proportion of selections in the programs that contain science and the amount of science that is in those selections, on the genres in which the science is portrayed, on…

Students and teachers at Hand Middle School in Columbia, South Carolina, were in the midst of a two-year, comprehensive renovation and construction project in which some sections of their 75-year-old, historic building were being renovated and new sections added. When parts of the school were boarded up and oversized machinery first moved onto…

Like teachers in many urban school districts with large numbers of disadvantaged children, the faculty at New Holland Core Knowledge Academy strives to build the foundational skills necessary for later academic success. At New Holland, however, content is king. While many schools have narrowed the curriculum since Congress passed the No Child Left…

In response to the challenge of meeting the needs of today's learners, teachers must know how to teach and facilitate new literacies and instructional technologies. This article introduces the concept of an electronic reading workshop (ERW), in which participants read eBooks, respond to literature in digital response journals, participate in…

Educators have been looking for a solution to increasing yearly student achievement while at the same time ensuring that the achievement gap between students of high and low socioeconomic status does not continue to widen each year. Many studies examined show that students experience summer learning loss if not in school during the months of June…

This book shows teachers how to bring students' Do-It-Yourself media practices into the classroom (Grades 6-12). In one accessible resource, the authors explain DIY media, identify their appealing features for content area instruction, and describe the literacy skills and strategies they promote. Chapters address: Adolescents' DIY Media as New…

Linguistics is a subject that has remained largely confined to the academy, rather than being integrated into school curricula. This is unfortunate but not surprising, as although some teacher education programs include courses on linguistics, it is not comprehensively integrated into teacher education, so it is largely absent from the curriculum.…

This case study of reading activity in third-grade bilingual classrooms at a state-sanctioned "successful" school examines the influences of the California accountability framework--Proposition 227, No Child Left Behind, and the federal Reading First program--on shifting beliefs and practices around what "counts" as reading.…

Discusses the question of whether verse should be translated into verse or prose. Prose is preferred since it is more flexible and can therefore remain more faithful to the original meaning. (Text is in Spanish.) (TL)

Several large-scale surveys of middle-grade elementary pupils revealed that of the language arts, only reading and spelling are liked and handwriting and language are intensely disliked. (JH)

The Model 3 communication skills lexicon consists of three lists of words developed by the Southwest Regional Laboratory (SWRL) for use in communication skills instruction in K-6. This report documents the procedures used for developing a technical lexicon for subject areas in kindergarten and the elementary grades. To develop a music lexicon,…

This study was designed to examine the readability levels of the fourth, fifth, and sixth grade textbooks of four of the most recent language arts textbook series. Readability scores were obtained for each textbook as a whole, for each chapter in each textbook, and for presentation of content and student exercises material within each textbook.…

Having screened preview films and tapes and teacher manuals for educational television series available for his students' viewing, the teacher can identify the kinds of reading skills typically emphasized in each, perhaps charting them for ready reference. Subsequently, the preparation the teacher gives students before they view the programs and…

Comments on the ability of fantasy to evoke images, the validity of fantasy, and influence of fantasy. (DD)