Notes that humor and hope can produce an interest in reading and writing in children. Presents ideas for developing interest in language arts as well as suggested poems, picture books, and beginning chapter books. Also includes classroom suggestions for developing the four needs of beginning writers: ideas, words, structures, and spelling. (LBT)

Notes that because reading and writing are separate but complementary aspects of a single language system, the way teachers plan activities determines the way in which children's writing helps them develop insights into their reading. (FL)

An account of how the author's son began writing as a play activity, issuing tickets to neighbors, attempting to read and interpret signs, and participating in making shopping and duty lists in the household. Includes observational recommendations. (CRH)

Views the writing act as an act of exploration rather than the reporting of what was discovered and emphasizes six elements that achieve the surprise in writing, including expectation, ease, and acceptance. (DF)

Examines the connections between children's writing and their earlier developed form of graphic symbolism--drawing--and explores research on early writing development. Considers the range of contexts for drawing and writing presented in the classroom. (HTH)

Nine first-grade, nine second-grade, and eight third-grade children of migrant farm workers provided the data for a descriptive study of writing development in a bilingual program. (FL)

Recounts how observation of children who were just beginning to write convinced a teacher that very young children can write, and thus changed the way she taught. (JL)

Sets forth educational inferences drawn from a classroom incident involving a first-grade child and her first story writing experience. (FL)

Reports on a four-year study of the process of journal writing in an elementary school. Assesses student behavior as well as actual writing. (FL)

There is an explosion of new research describing writing stages and how young children learn about reading by learning to write first. Teachers can develop environments in which students can freely explore writing in no-fail situations. By being guided by childrens' spontaneous learning efforts many inapropriate teaching techniques can be avoided.…

Explores how children become oriented to literacy and how their perceptions of the purpose of print develop as they move toward becoming more fluent users of print. (DF)

Explores four drafts of a child's story about the disappearance of television, showing how the later draft suggests the writer's interest in questions about the nature of reality, and how the student grew as writer. (HTH)

Presents a study of the process and the product in the early writing attempts of two children. Examines some of the strategies they use during the intermediate or invented spelling stage. (HTH)

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

Examines the early writing of a young child over the course of several months to illustrate the struggle with the writing process. Draws parallels between the child's writing progress and that of the author as she learned to be comfortable as a writer and suggests implications for the teaching of writing. (HTH)