Discusses the importance and benefits of reading aloud to young children. Presents methods and follow-up strategies using a variety of literature to further develop children's early skills in reading and writing. (RS)

Presents teacher-tested techniques for making phonics part of helping students learn to read. Suggestions include writing to read, working with storybook text, using techniques that utilize many senses, and making phonics only one part of a balanced reading program. Resources for obtaining phonics materials are included. (SM)

Examines classroom context and how it shapes three first graders' beginning reading behaviors. Finds differences in contexts quite subtle, yet children followed instructional foci and read accordingly. Notes that some behaviors occurred across contexts, whereas others did not. (RS)

Examines the effects on six children's literacy play and intellectual development of coaching their teenage mothers to use selected cues in playful literacy explorations. Finds increases in the use of interfactional cues following intervention, with scores declining to different degrees during transfer and maintenance phases. Finds that children's…

Student-created "reading and writing books" are described as a technique for motivating beginning readers. Writing and illustrating their own books can help elementary-age students build vocabulary, learn word recognition, improve reading skills, and become familiar with sentence structures. Several book topics are suggested. (JDD)

A special section examines the advantages of using big books with young children. One big book author discusses her work, noting the importance of big book reading. Other authors present teacher-tested tips for using big books, titles of big books, and ideas for do-it-yourself big books. (SM)

Describes a first grade beginning literacy program in which the author and the teacher have collaborated to create a balanced approach to instruction. (MG)

Suggests that "Johnny can't read" because of high testosterone levels in fetal development and subsequent poor brain lateralization. Presents instructional strategies based on the principle of factorized teaching for each of three discrete lateralization categories. Notes that the use of factorized teaching appears to have improved diagnostic and…

Experiments investigated the learning effects of two strategies (whole-word and segmented feedback) in beginning readers. Results from both experiments indicate whole-word sound feedback is more helpful than segmented feedback. (SM)

Presents, in a question-and-answer format, the views of two first grade teachers new to the Reading Recovery program. Explains the program and its impact on the students and teachers. (RS)

Discusses the technology for displaying closed captions on television, explains recent legislation that requires built-in caption decoders, and discusses the educational potential of captioned television and video for special education classrooms, beginning readers, English-as-a-Second-Language students, remedial readers, and adults engaged in…

Evaluates children at-risk for reading failure as kindergartners and again as first graders. Suggests that lexical access ability is an important factor in reading acquisition and that different combinations of phonological processes may be related to different aspects of reading. (RS)

Discusses what a sign system is, using the examples of art, music, drama, mathematics, and language. Explores how people use signs, and research on sign systems. Investigates how multiple sign systems can be incorporated into the classroom. Notes that supporting learners' flexible use of multiple sign systems may offer a better way to teach…

Considers two different views of beginning reading, one emphasizing the alphabetic nature of written language and the other focusing on contextual, as opposed to graphic, information. Examines different perspectives by evaluating oral reading errors in 15 first graders. Results support the influence of instructional approach on children's…

Ten French-speaking preschool children in Quebec with intellectual disabilities received either an intervention program based on the emergent literacy paradigm involving modeling, exploration, and interaction with an adult, or a comparison intervention. Pre- and post-test comparisons with a control group found the only item on which experimental…