The first of two studies examined the family literacy experiences of 10 young children in Britain. The second study traced the literacy progress of 66 first-year students, together with teachers' predictions and subsequent interventions. Findings indicated teachers' informal judgements did identify students with later problems but there was wide…

This brief article describes "Move, Touch, Read", a set of adaptations of commercial books to develop early Braille literacy prerequisites in young children and to systematize the transition from adapted to unadapted books. (DB)

Examines and refutes six myths about beginning and developing reading instruction. Discusses importance of teaching phonological awareness and decoding in beginning reading and of teaching syllable patterns and morpheme patterns from Anglo-Saxon, Greek, and Latin roots and affixes in developing reading. (Author/JDM)

Offers a framework for improving instructional tools in beginning reading with emphasis on their importance for children with diverse learning needs. Bases rationale on current practices and challenges of increasing diversity in classrooms. Identifies critical dimension or big ideas of beginning reading and relates it to curriculum design…

Investigated metalinguistic awareness in learning to read Spanish, focusing on print awareness, phonological awareness, decoding, and reading comprehension. Studies of 136 preliterate Spanish children indicated a relationship between phonological awareness and reading and revealed the importance of syllabic awareness in developing other levels of…

Examines whether letter-name knowledge facilitates learning spellings in which the names of one or more letters can be heard in the pronunciation of the words. Results suggest preschool Portuguese children who know the names of the letters can learn to read by processing letter-sound relations in words; however, children may not use this mechanism…

Describes what CD-ROM talking books are and how they foster young children's literacy development. Notes teachers' questions and concerns about CD-ROM talking books, and why teachers should consider using them. Offers 12 suggestions for activities with talking books, organized at different interaction levels: initial level, fluency and…

Disagrees with an earlier article in this journal about the dispute among reading-instruction specialists as to how phonics is best taught. Argues for direct and systematic phonics instruction. Presents a response to Groff, agreeing that children need explicit phonics instruction but arguing that an instructional approach that acknowledges the…

Describes an engaging activity for primary-grade students that encourages students to talk, read, write, and share events that are important in their lives by writing a daily news sheet. Describes the daily news process, which encourages students to share during whole-group community time and to work independently later. (SR)

Examines the role of early reading instruction on the nonword reading strategies employed by beginning readers. Describes how three groups of children were following either: the Early Reading Research project; the National Literacy Project; or usual classroom practice. Suggest that early reading instruction does have a significant impact on early…

Explores the effectiveness of "word boxes" phonics instruction on beginning first-grade children's word identification and spelling performance. Finds that children in the word boxes condition significantly outperformed children in a more traditional phonics condition. Indicates that word boxes lessons can be a viable phonics approach to…

Discusses a primary classroom in which the teacher uses miscue analysis, print awareness tasks, and book handling analysis to get to know her kids as readers and to build her instructional program. Describes using reading strategy groups made by grouping together students with similar strengths. Appends a description of how to administer the Book…

Discusses how miscue analysis informs two teachers' daily interactions with middle-grade students: how their teaching is transformed, how the structure of the day is changed, how they use reading conferences, and lessons from children. Appends a reading interview form, a record sheet for audio tapes, and a description of a strategy lesson on…

Reflects on how miscue analysis empowers teachers and empowers students. Discusses how it changes teachers' understanding of readers who are experiencing difficulty. Discusses Retrospective Miscue Analysis, which involves students in analyzing their own miscues. Offers teachers advice for getting started in miscue analysis, and appends a 38-item…

Relates the story of a kindergartner's first experiences with literacy in the school context to demonstrate the importance of constructivism in educators' thoughts about teaching and learning literature. Discusses the reasons why a kindergarten boy suddenly began writing and illustrating "books" about war even though he showed no interest in…