In this study, we focused on the implementation of a disciplinary literacy inquiry unit with a group of sixth-grade students. Guided by us, students learned about a local budgetary crisis, researched subtopics of interest to them (e.g., the effect of budget cuts on school athletics), and then wrote letters to their state's governor sharing their…

We paint a picture of preadolescent students' thinking on a topic of everyday importance: the right to use and the responsibility not to abuse digital technology in school. We analyzed the writing of students in grades 4-7 in response to an essay prompt about classroom iPad (tablet computer) use after a hypothetical cyberbullying incident,…

This article offers insight into what makes literacy tasks engaging or disengaging based on observations of and interviews with students. In a yearlong study of a sixth-grade classroom in a Title I school, students engaged in integrated literacy-social studies instruction. Researchers studied the degree of task openness and the degree to which…

How can we supplement the limited time available for vocabulary instruction while motivating students to attend to the words they are learning? As a part of an academic word vocabulary intervention, we challenged sixth-grade students to find their words in the world around them. This activity, In the Media, garnered responses from 51 of the 61…

This article examines how sixth-grade students navigated and perceived a combined e-book and audiobook reading experience using Kindle Fires. While audiobooks and e-books are not new, little is known about students' use and perceptions of the combination of these two media, as the ability to synchronize audio contents with digital texts is rather…

A study of children's preferences in book format factors revealed that children are not as concerned with the eye appeal of materials as they are with order and a desire to avoid confusion when reading. Suggests that designers place illustrations at the top or bottom of a page. (FL)

After examining the teachers of sixth-grade English-language learners (ELLs) in their regular classrooms, the authors of this study found that the ELLs' active or passive participation was much influenced by the teachers' approach to the students but not by the teachers' use of specific methods only. While the teachers' focus on American…

Results of a Canadian study show that students with mild to medium reading disabilities benefited from tutorial remediation and continued to make normal progress the next nine months. (Author/RL)

Recommends pretesting intermediate grade students' basal skills to eliminate unnecessary basal skill instruction. Provides guidelines for pretesting reading comprehension skills. (MM)

Describes a teacher's first efforts to implement Reading Workshop in her classroom. Reports the study she conducted that convinced her that Reading Workshop successfully improves reading comprehension and counters students' negative attitudes toward reading. (RS)

In a replication of two studies, the author found that sixth and eighth graders performed comparably to their counterparts of 60 years ago on reading comprehension and vocabulary tests. (MKM)

Shows how teaching sixth grade ESL students the story grammar of fairy and folktales enabled them to learn to express themselves in their own fiction writing. (FL)

Describes a cross-age reading and writing program in which sixth-grade students (all average and low-average readers) were paired with kindergarten children to read and write collaboratively on a regular basis. Finds evidence from the students themselves, their parents, the teachers, and the school librarian showing how students' attitudes toward…