The best gifts are those given by a deeply caring parent, a special relative, or a friend. Presents seldom last, but memories do. Parents are advised to create memories for their children this holiday season by giving them their time, caring, and love. Parents should make and keep promises to spend time with their children. (MLH)

Just as director sets stage and oversees theater production, middle-level administrator plays behind scenes, ensuring that school's message is clearly developed and focused on adolescents' needs. Actors must understand and integrate message into their roles and transmit it properly to audience/students. Article honors four outstanding…

Incubators in the Classroom is an extension program designed to teach fourth-graders about egg hatching. More than 15,000 Indiana students have used the learning materials, which include incubators, lesson guides, and CD-ROM learning guides. The Purdue extension service is in the process of conducting critical evaluation of the program. (SK)

Describes the Legends Project in Indiana in which a class collaboratively researches, writes, and illustrates a local legend and sends it via computers and modems to other classes across the state. (SR)

Argues how important it is that reading support continue in middle schools. Describes briefly the Young Hoosier Book Award Program for Indiana middle schools. Outlines conditions in schools that seem to affect participation in such programs. (SR)

Noting that reading instruction for young adolescents in Indiana's middle grades schools has been virtually eliminated, this booklet describes how important reading is in the middle grades and why it continues to deserve attention beyond the elementary years. The booklet proposes a series of actions that educators--teachers, administrators, school…

This booklet presents descriptions of 19 reading programs that encourage Indiana middle-grade students to read. The programs described in the booklet were part of the Middle Grades Reading Network and were funded with competitive $5000 "minigrants." Essays (descriptions of the reading programs) in the booklet are: "Building a…

Describes a collaborative project called "Mystery from History" involving a rural Indiana elementary class and a computer education college class at Indiana University. Explains that the university students sent a mystery via e-mail to the elementary students in which they continued to send clues and questions until the mystery was…

This report describes and evaluates the first year of the "Parents Sharing Books" project, a parent outreach program for Indiana middle and junior high schools. The project focuses on increasing interaction between parents and middle school children with books that they read together, encouraging parents and children to share books and…

The amount of time students spend in classrooms is relatively short--"13% of the student's waking hours in the first 18 years of life" (Walberg, Paschal, and Weinstein, 1985). They are developing intellectually, socially, and emotionally all the time, and parents are their models and teachers most of the time. This report describes and…

Profiles the Indiana Exchange Project, an endeavor that uses technology to link fourth-grade teachers and students from three geographically and ethnically diverse communities. The students exchange letters, photographs, response journals, local newspapers, and videotapes of classroom and community activities. Includes an example of a summary…

The Indiana Weather Project (IWP) investigated how the joint application of situated learning and constructivist theory might support elementary school students' understanding of weather systems. Results indicated significant cognitive gains during the multimedia weather unit. (SD)