One of the most common worries children's parents have is how well their children are learning to read. Introducing children to the joys of reading depends not only on the teachers, but on the parents. The most effective way parents can teach children how to read and to love reading is to read to them and, later, with them. Jim Trelease, author of…

Books on audiotape or videotape can be used in schools to provide independent reading experiences to beginning readers with limited preschool exposure to print. In addition, enabling children to hear stories while they look at the book may provide another support for literacy development in children at risk for reading difficulty. The efficacy of…

When teaching beginning reading, the use of certain children's stories, called predictable books, can yield higher reading comprehension skills, provide excellent practice for sight words, and teach good oral reading skills. A nurturing classroom environment is an important component of an effective beginning reading curriculum. An effective…

In response to a position paper that called upon the ministry of education in each Canadian province to provide a balanced selection to offerings on the province's authorized list of language arts textbooks, several ministries claimed that a balanced approach to teaching reading was being followed. A letter received from Alberta Education even…

Offered as a policy statement rather than as a how-to manual, this program advisory provides the policy direction and instructional guidance needed to support the improvement of reading achievement in California through the development and implementation of a balanced, comprehensive reading program in prekindergarten through grade 3. The first…

Adapted from "101 Ideas to Help Your Child Learn to Read and Write," this booklet presents 10 tips for parents to help their children learn and have a good time in the process. The booklet begins with a letter to parents which discusses five basic principles to remember as they help their children. Tips in the booklet include: read aloud to…

Combining developmentally appropriate early childhood practice with current views of emergent literacy and whole language instruction, this book is designed to help pre-service and in-service teachers incorporate new views of literacy into their classrooms. The book includes extensive examples from actual classrooms to assist readers in…

Fast Start is a program designed to get primary grade children off to a successful start in learning to read through intensive and systematic parental involvement that is coordinated through the school and is based upon proven and effective methods of parent-child interaction around reading. The program is simple to learn, easy to implement,…

This study compared the concept of print knowledge in kindergarten children with and without preschool education. Subjects were 12 kindergarten students: 6 had received preschool education, and 6 had not. Subjects completed a series of tasks on Maria Clay's Concepts of Print test, and parents completed a questionnaire examining the frequency with…

Designed to help teachers monitor their students' progress in beginning literacy, this book describes some classroom observation tasks which have been used systematically by New Zealand teachers to guide their teaching of young children in formal school programs. The book is designed for: teachers who work individually with children having…

Including revisions and updates in all areas, this book functions as a pre-service and in-service teacher self-instructional manual in word recognition skills. The first part of the book discusses the controversy concerning early phonics instruction versus use of the whole language approach, and then discusses consonants, vowels, reading…

A study examined whether reading alphabet books to prekindergarten children increased their awareness of sounds spoken in words. Subjects, 42 mainly low-income African-American children (63% of whom were boys) in three intact prekindergarten classes in three public elementary schools in a small southeastern city, were administered three pretest…

A study examined the concurrent development of reading and writing behaviors in a cross section of preschool and kindergarten children across diverse language and literacy tasks. Subjects, 16 preschool children attending a university laboratory school and 12 kindergarten children from two classrooms in a large suburban school district, were…

This document consists of the four issues of a newsletter published during 1996-1998. This newsletter provides a periodic update on the activities of the Early Childhood Research Working Group (ECRWG), organized in 1995 by the U.S. Department of Education and other federal government departments and agencies to promote interagency cooperation and…

Organized into five sections, this book discusses how children learn to read and write and provides suggestions for parents on how they can nurture children's growth in these areas. Section 1, "How Children Learn To Read and Write," explains general principles that apply to all early age groups. This section discusses how oral and…