We present the results of a longitudinal study of the formation of graphomotor skills in elementary school children between the ages of seven and nine (students in the first and second grades). Patterns in how the skills under investigation develop in normal children and those with learning disabilities were revealed using a computerized survey of…

Literacy activities in which children invest in and understand literacy creates spaces for them to construct their identity as readers/writers and build their personal theories of literacy. This study presents the identity construction of second grade students who identified as successful, average or struggling in their first time engagement with…

Ninety-four Mainland Chinese children in the second and third years of kindergarten (mean age = 65 months, SD = 6.94) were tested on Pinyin letter-name knowledge, invented Pinyin spelling, general copying skills of unfamiliar print (in Korean, Hebrew and Vietnamese, ultimately combined to create a pure copying factor), delayed copying of…

Interactive writing is an instructional practice widely considered effective and most appropriate for emergent writers. This article asserts that it is a valuable method for more fluent writers in grades 2-5. It outlines the basic lesson sequence and proposes four key shifts to adapt interactive writing for older, more fluent writers: 1) The…

This collective case study represents 10 gifted children's relationships with writing. The construct "relationship with writing" includes children's influences, goals, values, identity, and emotions connected to writing. Overall, these students' relationships with writing can be described as creative, responsible, and…

The present study was designed to explore the association between preschool academic skills and Grade 3 achievement among a sample of ethnically diverse children from low-income families. Data were collected from a sample of 1,442 low-income, ethnically diverse children in preschool and associated with Grade 3 achievement in reading and…

The purpose of this study was to examine effectiveness of paraphrasing interventions on mathematics word problem-solving accuracy in third grade children (N = 72) at risk for mathematics disabilities (MD). Three instructional conditions directed students' attention through paraphrasing, via writing, to different propositions within word problems.…

This study examined how parents' own learning affected their support for their children in a school-based Family Literacy Programme. Seventy-two children in junior kindergarten (4-year-olds) and senior kindergarten (5-year-olds) and their parents participated in the programme; complete data were available for 52 parents. Comparisons of pre- and…

Although growing numbers of young English language learners (ELLs) from low-income homes enroll in U.S. schools, there remains a lack of research on how they respond to common school literacy practices including a literacy-enriched play. This exploratory study aims to examine the writing behaviors of six kindergarteners in their classroom's…

This doctoral study investigated the use and implementation of interactive writing as an instructional method for primary teachers in Texas Educational Service Center Region 2. The descriptive study involved 152 survey respondents and eight interview participants. The primary instrument was a questionnaire (Interactive Writing Survey) that…

In this article, the author describes a self-portrait project that encouraged students, boosted their self-confidence, and got them excited about their artistic abilities--while producing amazing results. This lesson effectively develops artistic ability by compelling students to see that drawing is quite simply breaking down objects into the…

There is a growing need for STEAM-based (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) knowledge and skills across a wide range of professions (Brazell 2013). Yet students often fail to see the usefulness of mathematics beyond the classroom (Kloosterman, Raymond, and Emenaker 1996), and they do not regularly make connections between…

We had 3 aims in the present study: (a) to examine the dimensionality of various evaluative approaches to scoring writing samples (e.g., quality, productivity, and curriculum-based measurement [CBM] writing scoring), (b) to investigate unique language and cognitive predictors of the identified dimensions, and (c) to examine gender gap in the…

As young children enter formal schooling, they are at various points along their individual developmental paths toward literacy. Generally, their egocentric speech is becoming more social and they are building their capacity for logical thought and concrete problem-solving. This is a gradual development and teachers can support children's literacy…

The purpose of this study was to address the utility of curriculum-based measurements of written expression (CBM-W) for predicting writing growth longitudinally and address the extent to which CBM-W relate to other academic and behavior measures. CBM-W has been shown to be an appropriate and useful method for assessing and monitoring writing skill…