With the advent of the standards movement, most states have produced statewide tests that evaluate children's understanding of expository science text. Expository texts are designed to explain, describe, or present a logical argument. Usually, the purpose of expository texts is to present new information. This article describes a research-based…

The National Early Literacy Panel (NELP) was appointed in 2002 and carried out its work under the auspices of the National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL). NELP's primary goal was to identify interventions, parenting activities, and instructional practices that promote the development of children's early literacy skills. The National Institute…

As director of the National Writing Project (NWP) at Florida Gulf Coast University, one of the first questions the author gets from both elementary and high school teachers when she talks about the NWP Summer Invitational Institute is this: "What can we possibly hope to gain from each other as we share our best practices?" High school…

Read-alouds boost listening and reading comprehension skills and bring subjects to life in a way that textbooks cannot. This article presents three literature-based social studies units, which offer some fresh choices to invigorate lessons. For each unit, a recently published novel is highlighted as a read-aloud or group reading selection and…

Intended for practitioners from preschool to college whose major interest is literacy development, this book presents 20 essays that discuss multiple perspectives of the varied definitions of family literacy and provide ideas for schools, community agencies, and families by presenting different types of programs to put into practice. Essays in the…

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…

A study focused on the parent-child interaction and reading issues such as the correction of children's oral miscues, comprehension, and questioning techniques as the children and parents either took turns reading or as the parent listened to the child read orally from six multicultural selections. Subjects were four African-American second…

"Questioning the Author" is a particular style of classroom discussion that tries to get young students (fourth and fifth graders) to actively grapple with the ideas they read about in class. It may be distinguished from other reading strategies by the following approaches: (1) it addresses a text as the product of a fallible author; (2)…

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…

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,…

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…

This issue presents eight essays all on the theme of how young children can become strong and successful lifelong readers. "Seeking Common Ground" (Lee Sherman) reviews the debate over how best to teach young children to read. "In the Beginning" (Catherine Paglin) suggests that by reading aloud to young children and filling their world with print,…

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…

A study examined the effectiveness of an emergent literacy program designed to encourage low-income parents to read to their children. Pre-school teachers in four low-income areas in Australia read to children in their class regularly. Three books were sent home with each child twice a week and the parents were asked to read to their children. A…

This paper defines an already existing body of literature in trade books whose intrinsic characteristics provide a superstructure of support that make it particularly attractive to readers engaged in ongoing growth beyond beginning or emergent reading who, for whatever reason, cannot be considered mature or independent enough readers to engage…