It is easy for intermediate students to get the wrong ideas about the purpose of reading. Educators pay so much attention to decoding and fluency in the early years that children sometimes come to believe that flawless and rapid word recognition is the point. As texts get more demanding or unfamiliar, some of the "good readers" in classes begin to…

A teacher describes her solution to discipline problems in her classroom, a method she calls positive discipline. Students attend "night school" with humorous course offerings entitled Janitorial Skills, Silence Is Golden, Get to Know Your Notebook, Artful Dodging, and Learning a New Language. (MT)

Describes an elective infant-care course being offered to fifth- and sixth-grade boys from Collegiate School in New York City. (SJL)

A recent study of reading instruction in 28 resource rooms designed for learning-disabled students is described. Program effectiveness was found to be determined by use of student time, method of instruction, and coordination between resource teachers and classroom teachers. Ways to use resource rooms more effectively are suggested. (MT)

One fourth grade class studied Van Gogh by investigating his art and life on the computer, painting still lifes, then learning to draw in perspective, creating colorful images of their own bedrooms using Van Gogh's bedroom as a model. Students extended their learning by examining relevant literature and completing timelines, biographical reports,…

The use of a travel writer's approach to social studies instruction, where students gather information to write travel guides about countries they're studying, is illustrated through activities for studies about Egyptian passport and visa applications, currency, history, language, and art. (CB)

A computer program, Pacesetter, is described. As an organizational tool, it assists in developing strategies for planning, organizing, scheduling, and completing tasks on time. An account is given of the experiences of a teacher who used Pacesetter to help sixth graders produce a school newspaper. (IAH)

A teaching unit that helps fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade students learn about human and animal skeletal systems is described. The unit focuses on bone characteristics and develops basic science skills, such as observation, data collection, and making and testing hypotheses. (PP)

To combat summer learning loss among remedial readers, teachers and consultants in the Omaha, Nebraska, Title I program designed a series of comic-book reading units and mailed them to students' homes. Parents were pleased with the project and it appeared that less reading skill had been lost by September. (SJL)

The article presents technology projects that provide real-life reasons for students to learn geography. A variety of online networks take students on online field trips, linking them with scientists, zoologists, archaeologists, and explorers. Other interactive software is available to simulate trips to various locations around the world. (SM)

Describes the winners of the Prentice Hall/National Middle School Association Teaching Team Awards (established to recognize exceptional interdisciplinary projects by middle school teaching teams). Students designed a new school, simulated a journey over the Oregon trail, conducted oral histories, and turned a local river into a learning…

A middle school reform initiative, sponsored by the Program for Disadvantaged Youth of the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation 4 years ago, has taken hold in 12 urban middle schools nationwide. The article discusses that reform, noting the lessons about change to accommodate student diversity that urban middle schools can teach. (SM)