A teacher reflects on his experiences at the reunion of his favorite class. (MM)

Describes a classroom version of the game "To Tell the Truth". The game can be used as an introduction to the biographical background of a significant individual in a given subject area. (BD)

A laboratory activity caused students to think actively about water pollution. The students realized that it would be easier to keep water clean than to remove pollutants. They created a water scrubbing system allowing them to pour water in one end and have it emerge clean at the other end. (JOW)

Note that the exercise, Roll Call, is designed to demonstrate that character is most effectively and reliably created through a careful selection and execution of actions, not by magically inhabiting a character. Concludes that by the end of this sequence of exercises, students should have a better understanding of how character can be created…

Extends the discussion of mimetic documents from labeled pictures and picture lists to labeled diagrams and diagram lists. Highlights how different mimetic documents provide qualitatively different levels of understanding. (RS)

Outlines the procedures for organizing a book club for elementary level students. Describes how a book club motivates children to read and gives them the opportunity to share, enjoy, and exercise their oral communication skills. (MM)

The article describes innovative activities for presenting legal principles to fifth- and sixth-grade students involving the importance of rules and rulemaking. (CB)

Suggests that relationships among anachronisms, schema theory, and thinking skills can be combined to produce useful classroom tools, and that teachers can easily construct materials to enhance thinking skills. (RS)

Discusses briefly categories of children's literature that help integrate music into the classroom, and offers a 214-item list of children's books with musical possibilities. (SR)

Suggests that the assumption that the more gold stars collected, the more books read, and the more books read, the better the literary experience. Notes the absence of genuine literary involvement in simply gathering gold stars for books read. (RS)

Describes how choral reading and "orchestrations" of poetry engage the interest and enthusiasm of adolescents. (SR)

Discusses a strategy that provides a structure for students to do what adults do naturally: determine the correct spelling of a word by rewriting it until it looks right. Notes that the technique can be incorporated into the classroom as a regular editing technique. (RS)

Describes an exercise used in an organizational communication class that both encourages students to use e-mail and allows students to analyze critically how various communication channels function differently. (SR)

Identifies strategies that teachers may use to help younger and older students understand various types of plot structures and to relate those plot structures to characterization and theme. Lists 10 additional books that develop strong plot structures. (SR)

Offers rationales for teaching cartoons and poetry together, and describes classroom activities involving cartoon poetry. (SR)