When adults share picture books with young children, they build their lifelong literacy and enjoyment of reading. In beautiful full color, the new edition of this popular book will help recognize quality in children's literature and illustration and see how to use picture books to best advantage. Following an introduction, this book is organized…

Early reading experiences in the home prepare children for formal literacy instruction when they enter school. Most practitioners and researchers support the need for educational initiatives for increasing parents' involvement in early literacy. However, there is less of a consensus about how to develop family literacy models for Latino families.…

Considers how children's vocabulary develops in reading contexts. Focuses on the role of independent reading as one of the major factors influencing vocabulary growth. (AEW)

Described is a preschool science activity in which students use shell collections. This activity demonstrates how language development and reading readiness skills are interrelated with science. Prereading and reading activities are described involving the students in direct interaction with the shell collection. (DS)

Describes a parent education project that recognized the importance of educating parents so that they would be able to help their youngsters in early reading development. (HOD)

Parenting a gifted child may not be what Mom and Dad expected when they read parenting books and first saw that innocent infant face. A gifted child is a joy and a challenge--rarely predictable, sometimes frustrating and annoying, but never boring. This article discusses the characteristics and vulnerabilities of the gifted. The author offers some…

Describes a language program for first-grade students incorporating the following strands: writing, poetry, reading, group cloze activities, the Scott Foresman Reading Scheme, recreational reading, handwriting, phonics, and language games. (MM)

Through stories, children become aware of their culture and make sense of their world. Past stories came from books; now they come from television. To develop a theory of children's literature, knowledge about children, about their books, and about reading must be placed in a new theoretical pattern. (PP)

Describes the history of early childhood intervention programs. Outlines research results related to the effects of the programs. Discusses the fadeout phenomenon of the graduates of the programs. Presents an introduction of the "Success for All" program in Baltimore. (YP)

This case study documents the emergence of reading ability in an extremely precocious reader between the ages of two years, seven months and three years, two months. At the end of this period, his word recognition ability was at the late first-grade level. Writing skills began to develop when he was four years old. (DB)

As more and more reading programs make the move from the basal reading series to authentic text, teachers are asking the same question: How do I choose appropriate books for my class? Teachers of students who are deaf or hard of hearing are no exception. In this article, the author describes her use of Dr. Seuss books in early reading instruction.

This paper describes a study designed to find out whether children's reading would be affected by line spacing that is wider or narrower than the commonly used default values. The realistic, high quality test material was set using a range of four different line spacing values, and twenty-four children in Years 1 and 2 (between five and seven…

The infant-toddler years are incredibly important in producing a nation of readers. Every family can, in culturally appropriate ways, help infants and toddlers learn to read the world. Every caregiver can, in culturally appropriate ways, help infants and toddlers grow in language and literacy. The authors argue that early childhood programs must…

Leaders in the field of literacy regard family literacy projects that seek to involve both children and their parents or caregivers as vital. The importance of parents as a child's first teachers has long been acknowledged. Nevertheless, the topic of family literacy is not one of those receiving attention in the field. In an annual survey of…

Provides guidelines on selecting software for preschoolers and a buyer's guide with entries arranged by manufacturer. Each entry includes: name of the software package; current price; a list of special features (paddle/joystick required, graphic, and sound); and brief comments (such as subject and/or skill area and format). (JN)