This paper describes the REAP (Reading, Enjoying, And Presenting) project, in which seventh-grade students enhance their reading ability and self-concept by preparing and presenting a reading performance at various child care and adult care facilities. The paper presents an illustration of what the research says about reading aloud; the completed…

A study examined the ways teachers and children in a preschool classroom enacted informal book-reading and other informal book-related events. Four key patterns in children's activities and teachers' curricular responses were identified: (1) children naturally selected their own "themes" for reading at the book center, and often these themes were…

Despite its supposed importance, children's emergent interest in literacy has been seldom studied. As a result, no easy-to-use and psychometrically sound measure of children's emergent interest in literacy exists. This study made an initial attempt at validating such a measure. On three separate occasions, 24 parents and their 2- to 3-year-old…

Intended for people who are willing to expend the effort to help children become independent readers and writers, this book presents professionally accepted approaches and techniques with step-by-step instructions for tutoring on a one-on-one basis in the language of the lay person. It contains a theoretical and attitudinal base from which to…

After a foreword by Patricia McGrath Russavage, this yearbook contains the following eight articles: (1) "IRA Resolution on Literacy Assessment"; (2) "Historical Perspectives by Dale Johnson and S. Jay Samuels" (Shirley A. Wagoner and Janice Almasi); (3) "Report Cards in Literacy Evaluation: Teacher's Training, Practices,…

Emerging literacy is a vital concern not only for whole language enthusiasts but also for all concerned with helping each child extend his or her individual literacy development. By avoiding a traditional, behavioristic, reductionist, readiness-oriented classroom, the primary school teacher provides a greater opportunity for creating a natural…

To develop good reading habits, children must be surrounded with books, stories and reading not only in the classroom but in the home and the community. Children who read and are read to outside of school do better than those who do not read and are not read to outside of school. Parents and other family members should make books and reading aloud…

A study was conducted to determine whether a teacher's reading to sixth grade students on a regular basis would have a significant positive effect on their reading comprehension. Twenty students, divided into experimental and control groups, were pretested and posttested using the "Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test." During the eight-week study, the…

A study examined how regular listening to oral reading by teachers affected fourth and sixth grade students' reading comprehension, attitudes towards reading, and time spent doing independent reading. Subjects, 221 students from six diverse school systems in Connecticut, were read to for 20 minutes, three times per week, for 12 weeks. Pre- and…

The practicum described in this report consisted of a reading program that was developed and implemented to improve attitudes toward leisure-time reading with an increased book involvement among elementary students. A target group of 30 students in a fourth grade self-contained class was established for the program. The program contained three…

"Celebrate Literature!," a multi-volume articulated literature curriculum for grades K-6, intended to foster students' awareness of their literary heritage, increase their knowledge of story structure and provide examples of excellence in children's literature, is described in this paper. The paper also describes how by building upon…

Supported by a rationale for activities in the language arts/English curriculum, this paper demonstrates methods of introducing students to current approaches to oral interpretation of literature. The paper argues that through planning, rehearsing, and reflecting on oral interpretations of literature, readers become increasingly aware of…

This planning handbook is designed to help library staff and volunteers organize, implement, and manage a Read-to-Me-Club for pre-reading or read-to-me patrons, and those parents, family members, and caregivers who care for, work with, and read to pre-readers. Nine chapters provide: (1) an explanation and description of a read-to-me program; (2) a…

To develop young readers who will continue to read throughout life, reading must be taught in a context that encourages students to read and to love reading. Teachers, parents, and librarians can lead students into books through a variety of strategies. Adults can awaken youngsters' imaginations by reading aloud, introducing books by means of book…

Sixty consequential writing tasks are described in this source book to help elementary and secondary school students develop their abilities in written composition. The activities foster thinking by posing game-like writing problems that require students to use their minds in the ways that good writers do, and to solve the problems that good…