Concludes that preschool children know that print conveys information, yet frequently use environmental cues rather than letter knowledge when they appear to read. (FL)

Reports on naturalistic research studies revealing that children begin to learn to read and write long before they go to school. (JL)

A "Learning" magazine editor recommends five books for teachers: (1) "Hunger of Memory" (Richard Rodriguez); (2) "Cushla and Her Books" (Dorothy Butler); (3) "Uncivil Liberties" (Calvin Trillin); (4) "Selected Letters of James Thurber"; and (5) "The Selected Letters of Mark Twain." A…

Discusses factors that foster the development of young voluntary readers. Reviews studies that describe home and school characteristics that encourage voluntary reading and stresses the importance of providing young students with a rich literary environment in the classroom. (FL)

Concludes that sound awareness scores significantly predicated performance of kindergarten children on a sight-word learning task and a decoding-like task. Subjects' knowledge of terminology was unrelated to success on either task. (FL)

Argues that by encouraging children in their early writing efforts, adults can help them develop into confident and comfortable writers. (FL)

Argues that teachers can take advantage of child-initiated explorations to develop beginning reading and writing skills. Offers specific recommendations and suggestions. (FL)

Parents are urged to provide a superior education for their preschool children by encouraging the development of the first language in the home and by teaching the young child to read in at least one of his languages before going to school. (PMJ)

Argues that while many publishers may simplify the sentence structure in the basal reader to facilitate the process of learning to read, this practice may result in texts with stylistic features and text formats that are unnatural and uncharacteristic of written English or the language development level of the children. (FL)