This article uses Dresang's dimensions of radical change to call attention to the evolving structures and features of novels for young readers being published today. The controversial topics and elaborate design features contained in contemporary novels, for example, the expansion of dystopic fiction, the disruption of traditional narrative…

Vocabulary knowledge is key to comprehension and expression. For students in the intermediate grades, the need for breadth and depth of vocabulary accelerates as they encounter more challenging academic texts in print and on the Internet. Drawing on research-based principles of vocabulary instruction and multimedia learning, this article presents…

Presents a set of criteria (formulated by students) for evaluating student projects. Notes that the method is called "FINE" (Facts, Interesting, Neatness, Effort). (SR)

Points out the many different kinds of texts people read and write, and how literacy is used for a wide variety of purposes. Argues that teachers should make available for students different kinds of texts in addition to the more conventional ones seen in classrooms, and offers a list of such materials. (SR)

Offers practical activities that make spelling drill more interesting and more applicable to vocabulary development. (FL)

Reports on an examination of intermediate level basal readers in eight series, concluding that they reflect reasonably well the interests of intermediate children. (DD)

Provides information on how teachers can contribute additional encouragement, direction, and guidance for exploring and expanding intermediate-grade students' personal response to literature. Describes eight response options and offers guidelines. (PRA)

Describes insights about students' motivation for literacy learning based on a student-researcher collaborative inquiry in a fifth- and sixth-grade whole-language classroom. (SR)

Describes an interdisciplinary instructional approach that links historical content and literature to develop historical literacy in fifth-grade students, fostering understanding and encouraging interpretation of stories told through the voices of the past. (SR)

Describes how a fourth-grade teacher made poetry part of the daily ritual of her class. Describes how students began to read poems, write poems, and love poems enough to work persistently at reading and writing them. Describes a poetry festival that the class prepared. Describes the many effects, both cognitive and affective, of daily poetry. (SR)

Describes ways to enable fifth-grade students to lead discussions about provocative books without an adult and to enjoy discussions as much as they enjoy simple retellings. Describes preparing for, setting up, and ending the discussion. (SR)

Discusses how picture books can be used in the classroom with intermediate grade students. Provides examples of books and projects that have been used on the following topics: issues of war and peace, the environment, relationships between generations, and the development of self. (MG)

Describes how a class of fourth graders effectively used their reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills to take action (regarding the laws governing trophy hunting) and to change a piece of their world. (SR)

Describes a cooperative learning activity in a fifth-grade class in which students researched, wrote, and sponsored classroom resolutions honoring African Americans during Black History Month. Discusses how literacy has the power to connect students with their heritage or with any heritage they choose to connect with. (SR)

Shares a memory enhancer that has stood the test of time and has supported students in their pursuit of meaningful textbook reading, from upper elementary grades through college classrooms: THIEVES (Title, Headings, Introduction, Every first sentence in a paragraph, Visuals and vocabulary, End of chapter questions, and Summary). Notes the…