Three families with at-risk children were taught lap-reading techniques and provided with books for lap reading over a 12- to 16-week period. The resulting changes in children's behavior included choosing books and reading as free-time activities, developing positive attitudes toward books, and persisting in attending to books in the face of other…

Addresses the questions: How does the interaction--primarily as talk--that occurs among children who read together extend their understanding of language and learning to read? Are there productive gains in their emerging literacy skills because of the talk that occurs as children pore over books together? Concludes that children's interactions…

Recommends a young adult read-aloud selection for science classes on endangered species. Describes listening, writing, discussing, investigating, and debating activities capitalizing on this read-aloud. (SR)

Discusses various issues concerning reading literature in the elementary classroom, under the following section heads: "Adding to Your Alphabet,""Working with the Transitional Reader,""Reading Aloud to the Very Young,""Leading to Lively Conversation," and "Enriching the Teaching of Science." (TB)

Teachers who share children's literature with their classes in content areas also provide a rich curriculum in moral and ethical education. Embedded are values that promote democratic living and enhance children's moral education. This article discusses the ethics in fictional and biographical children's literature and offers strategies for…

Describes a way to involve mixed-level, third-grade readers more effectively in literature or author studies without limiting their choice of texts. Offers several book options that met literature teaching goals. Describes how the "Tag Reading" techniques work and recommends Tag Reading as an ideal technique for stress-free reading from Grade 3 on…

Examines a subset of oral responses young children (grades K-2) make during interactive read-alouds of picture storybooks. Describes this set of responses and does some theoretical speculation about how educators might understand them. Describes how knowledge of the various types of these responses could be put into practical use in classrooms.…

Suggests that reading aloud: incorporates into any language program, is cost effective, requires little preparation, develops listening habits, builds language skills, aids reading comprehension, and impacts students' attitudes toward reading. Lists 15 books that are good to read aloud for K-1, 14 books for grades 2-3, and 13 books good for…

Reports the results of a case study measuring the impact of reading aloud to a first grader over a period of one year. Notes the student made substantial gains in reading and writing by the end of the school year, and that the student became a voracious reader of poetry. (NH)

Evaluated whether parents can affect their children's interest in shared reading. Found that after 1 week, children in the interest intervention group were more interested in shared reading than children in the attention-control group. After 4 weeks, intervention parents still reported increased child interest, although direct observations…

Examined longitudinal associations between infant-parent attachment and parent/toddler behavior during storybook interaction. Found that infants with insecure-resistant attachment with mothers were less enthusiastic and focused during storybook interaction at 24 months. Mothers of insecure-resistant infants were less warm/supportive, and less…

If a child does not learn to read in the early grades, there are few opportunities for them to catch up. Therefore, the extent of a child's exposure to reading before the early school years is not only important, but critical. In this column, the author suggests ten easy ways to make reading a part of every young child's day: (1) Read and reread…

Typically, when a parent and a toddler share a picture book, the adult reads and the child listens. But practitioners of a special, research-based technique called dialogic reading are turning that age-old model upside down. Dialogic reading transforms youngsters into storytellers and adults into active listeners, increasing the likelihood that…

This article explains how and why to involve teachers and students as playwrights "commissioned" to write, revise, read, rehearse, and perform Readers Theatre scripts that fulfill a dual purpose: inform (about curriculum topics) and entertain. Curriculum-Based Readers Theatre (CBRT) differs from traditional Readers Theatre in that its script…

This article reports on an investigation of how mothers and fathers differ in reading aloud with children between 13 and 46 months of age. Twenty-seven mother/child dyads and 36 father/child dyads were observed on three consecutive weeks by trained observers who used a modified version of descriptors of read-aloud behaviors developed by…