This paper describes a practicum designed to give 12 low-achieving first-grade children more time to improve their communication skills, to promote knowledge development, and to motivate children to become enthusiastic about the reading and writing process. Whole language, creative drama, and different styles of writing were utilized in the…

This guide contains profiles of 16 activities for young children to participate in while attending camp. Each profile contains the theme of the activity, a list of materials needs, a description of the activity itself, and an explanation of the teacher's role in the activity. The activities focus on: (1) songs and dances; (2) dramatic play; (3)…

This study explored the effects of children's cultural group on the content of their dramatic and sociodramatic play. After defining play, dramatic play, sociodramatic play, and culture, observations were conducted by a preschool teacher of Latino-American and first-generation African-American 4-year-olds over an 8-week period. Play that was…

The chapters and essays in this book are drawn from the 1988 edition of "Play as a Medium for Learning and Development." The first chapter, "The Challenge of Educational Play," by Bernard Spodek and Olivia N. Saracho, is followed by two essays: (1) "Play and the Origin of Species," (Michael J. Ellis); and (2)…

This ERIC/RCS Special Collection contains 10 or more Digests (brief syntheses of the research on a specific topic in contemporary education) and FAST Bibs (Focused Access to Selected Topics--annotated bibliographies with selected entries from the ERIC database), providing up-to-date information in an accessible format. The collection focuses on…

Designed to dramatize constitutional issues in the history of Rensselaer County, New York, the struggle for women's rights is the focus of this play that is intended for fourth grade students as part of their local history curriculum. The play has four objectives: to enable students to understand the meaning of inequality, to show how the lives of…

A study determined whether first year middle school drama students in a talented, magnet program were able to demonstrate more credible characterization in a scene study project after they had been taught some basic directing methods. These methods included blocking (the movements of the actor) and beat breakdowns (the small acting units in a…

A study investigated the styles teachers exhibit while interacting with children in literacy-enriched play settings, whether teachers switch between several different styles, and how different play interaction styles affect children's play behaviors. Subjects, seven 4-year-olds enrolled in a university laboratory preschool class, a lead teacher,…

This three-part guide contains suggestions for theater arts experiences for handicapped students. Part one discusses the rationale, purpose, and scope of this guide as well as four values of theater arts for the handicapped. Part two contains instructions for creative drama activities. Following a page of tips for the teacher, 18 activities using…

Having defined pantomime as the art of communicating ideas and emotions without dialogue, this report stresses the role of the body in suggesting an idea, impression, sensation, or character and offers a series of exercises to help develop the muscular coordination and graceful movement characteristic of good pantomime technique. The first series…

Language arts activities for use in conjunction with 83 children's picture books are contained in this K-8 guide. Following a list of the 83 books presented alphabetically by author, the bulk of the guide consists of a page devoted to each book. These pages, also in alphabetical order by author, give the publisher's name, the publication date, a…

In a study investigating the hypothesis that verbal paraphrase and explanation tasks account for part of the difficulty that young children have with tests of metaphor comprehension, 32 six-year-old children were read short stories that ended with metaphorical sentences. Half of the children were asked to paraphrase the metaphorical sentences…

This document outlines an approach to creativity called "developmental dramatics," in which process is considered to be infinitely more important than performance. "Four pillars of the foundation of learning" are explored in discussions of art and visual, music, movement, and make-believe activities. Basic guidelines for…

A total of 87 college professors, childhood development experts, and school teachers from the United States, Canada, the Republic of Korea, and the Philippines participated, along with 34 representatives from the host country of Taiwan, in a seminar to exchange views and experiences related to the role of the arts in child development. This volume…