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)

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)

Highlights the instructional benefits of alphabet books for students aged 8 to 11. Discusses their features and uses. Provides an annotated, categorized bibliography of alphabet books appropriate for students beyond the beginning reading level. (SR)

Reveals that fourth-grade children were able to tell the differences between expository and narrative text but still needed guidance in how to read the two types of materials best. (FL)

Describes a remedial reading program utilizing a systems approach in a learning laboratory. (MKM)

Presents a unit that uses folk and fairy tales to provide a literary background for creative writing in a fourth-grade classroom. (FL)

Concludes that teachers' questions influence both the sorts of inferences fifth-grade students draw from a text and how well they integrate the new information with what they already know. Argues that they learn best the things they are asked about. (FL)

Describes the directed group reading technique used by a middle grades teacher in Japan to help her students get the most from a book. Explains how the technique not only allowed the students to acquire more knowledge, but also taught them how to study and think. (FL)

Describes a learning activity that helps children learn to combine the journalistic writing style found in newspaper headlines with the story structure of novels. (MG)

Provides a rationale for organizing history instruction around children's trade books. Presents a sample unit on the American Revolution that has been used successfully with intermediate-grade students. Describes an approach that is unique in its dual focus on students' affective responses to literature and their learning of content. (MG)