Relates the belief that "shared reading" using big books will provide children with a meaningful introductin to reading. (DF)

In recent years, the focus on reading instruction has turned to the primary grade levels. Debates over phonics, whole language, and balanced literacy approaches occur among researchers, educators, and parents. Using a balanced approach in the classroom has received the most support from teachers and researchers, according to five related articles…

Numerous studies have linked reading aloud to preschoolers and these children's later success as readers. But some of the parents with whom teachers work, whether they work at Head Start, childcare centers, or primary grades, have limited reading skills. However, the Hispanic, Native American, African American, Irish American, and many other…

Cites articles and research suggesting that the ability to learn to read is inherent within any normal child and recommends that teachers use strategies and materials relevant to the child rather than a prestructured reading program. (MM)

Shows that the ability to impose a distinct and exact meaning on what is seen underlies the skills involved in reading; notes the importance of training in perception combined with a clear sense of the purpose of reading. (GT)

Composing the first volume in a proposed series, the eight papers collected here focus on the general theme of allowing children to have a childhood. The first paper urges that educators of young children communicate that they, as professionals, believe in and act on the basis of principles of child development. The second paper points out how…

In an interview with New Zealand instructor and author Don Holdaway, discusses the value of shared reading experiences with very young children. Examines children's early reading strategies and the use of extra large print in reading materials. (HTH)

This paper discusses five language roots of reading: phonology, syntax, semantics, short-term and long-term memory, and auditory segmenting. Teachers are urged to focus early school experiences toward development of these five skills to reduce the incidence of reading difficulties. Specific teaching suggestions are offered. (Author/DB)

Spelling practices, processes, and implications can be analyzed in terms of three conceptual models: the bottom up, the top down, and the interactive compensatory model. Spelling instruction from post-colonial America into the 20th century reveals a preoccupation with the bottom up philosophy, which emphasized rules, word lists, and rote…

The first of a series providing reviews, syntheses (empirical and rhetorical), and reports of reading research, the chapters in this volume treat the question, "What does a child have to know (or be able to do) in order to learn to read?" The book begins with an in-depth logical analysis in historical perspective of the concept of reading…

Advocating preschool children's introduction to microcomputers, this document describes the advantages of computer learning for the child, academic skills that can be taught, results of an experiment that field tested microcomputers in a nursery school, and guidelines for parents to use when selecting software for their children. An introductory…

Describes inadequate home literacy experiences of three children, noting that the home expects the school to educate the child and the school expects certain prerequisites of the home, but neither is aware of the other's expectations. Exhorts schools and teachers to communicate better the parents' role in early literacy education. (HTH)

Offers suggestions for improving beginning teachers' abilities to teach reading, noting the need for greater cooperation between colleges and practicing schools in providing teachers with the proper training in subject matter and teaching skills. Discusses teacher-developed reading and readiness programs, attitudes, and material selection. (FL)

The author discusses how she learned to accept the differences in approaches to living and learning among herself, her mother, and her daughters. She achieved this by drawing on her own learning experiences, spirituality, and experience in teaching her adopted Native American daughter to read. (LP)

In 3 second-grade classrooms within diverse educational settings, the theory of culturally responsive teaching was utilized in combination with the strategy, Text Talk. Text Talk is a strategy generally used with young children during read-alouds to foster oral language and comprehension. Culturally response teaching builds on students' prior…