Notes that people's voices telling their own stories is the only true connection to the past. Describes how in their teachers' writing group, they listen to each others' stories. Considers how they offer support to each other when lessons fall flat and celebrate when they share the children's wonderful products. (SG)

Responds to William Bigelow's 1989 article which was being used in a fifth grade classroom. Questions the approach taken by the teacher and focuses on how children can be most productively involved in the kind of critical reading Bigelow advocates. Discusses the use of "I-Charts" (inquiry charts) to foster critical reading. (MG)

Describes how two fifth-grade boys developed and sustained a love of fantasy books. Describes how these two discriminating readers have developed taste and a social context for their reading experience. Shows how their experience demonstrates important principles about reading and about reading curriculum. (SR)

Describes how the author, a fifth-grade teacher, found the desire, the inspiration, and continuing motivation and rewards to break out of her traditional teaching practices and implement the Reading Workshop in her class. (SR)

Advocates using literature logs and literature discussion groups as an effective way to develop a community of readers. Looks at the different kinds of comments and questions that a class of fifth graders wrote in their literature logs. (SR)

A large segment of poor readers in elementary school do not supply prosodic features to print; in other words, they do not use pauses, changes in pitch, or differences in emphasis to show their comprehension. Two methods that help children to supply reading intonation involve using phrasally segmented texts and teacher modeling of the correct…

Ten suggestions that can help the elementary school teacher expand and enhance the basal reading program are (1) collect additional material on the authors, genres, and art media found in the series; (2) supplement the program with audiovisual and human, as well as printed, resources; (3) meet with other staff members to plan the curriculum; (4)…

Describes a collaborative project between a college elementary education course and a fifth-grade class that used electronic mail to learn about teaching reading and language arts. Highlights include the idea of the fifth graders as the experts; reducing computer anxiety; evaluation results from both student groups; and future revisions. (LRW)

Presents five pictures of fifth grade low-achieving students involved in reading-writing activities. Presents two alternatives to current classroom practices for nonmainstream students: prize the culture of nonmainstream students; and view storytelling as another literacy. (MG)