Discusses the importance of vocabulary development in literacy programs. Uses six criteria to describe the ideal vocabulary development resource with the awareness that most commercially available resources will need to be supplemented by the teacher. Reviews five instructional resources available for the intermediate and middle school grades. (MG)

Provides instructions for making and tips for using laptop flannel boards as portable and individual teaching tools. (MG)

Presents a descriptive review of six criterion-referenced reading programs now on the market and suggests a format for evaluating other programs. (RB)

Summarizes research results from an international study investigating which children benefit from working with self-learning kits and under what conditions. (JM)

Illustrates how teachers might select materials, measure readability, lower the reading level, and enrich social studies materials. (Author/RB)

Demonstrates how writing can grow from the ongoing curriculum by discussing types of writing included in a unit on pets, suggests areas of the curriculum and materials that are good springboards to writing, and describes instructional materials that focus on writing. (ET)

Provides a listing of 1,000 words of high frequency of occurrence in both voluntary and assigned reading in grades 3-9 in the United States. (MKM)

Describes four comprehension materials that exemplify good use of instructional language and directions while maintaining high degrees of validity, transfer potential, and amount of reinforcement. (MG)

Discusses the need to pay more attention to the type and nature of the content assessed. Provides five guidelines designed to help teachers select material that will contain important content, the heart of authentic assessment. (MG)

Describes several types of resources on the Internet for children's literature that may be used to support interdisciplinary instruction: central sites, teacher-created children's literature projects, author web sites, Internet-posted lesson plans, and electronic mailing lists. (SR)

A historical artifact has stories to tell. Using artifacts, from primary documents to objects that can be held in the hand, is a motivational strategy that brings a period of history to life. Motivated learners think critically, write, collaborate, develop research skills, and deepen knowledge about another time and place. In addition, they apply…

Provides a preliminary look at the syntactic complexity of primary grade reading materials commonly used for initial reading instruction. (RB)

Description of tutoring programs now in progress, begins with the assumption that a majority of the nation's schools operate such programs. (RB)

Tells how teacher developed books increased students' motivation to read. (RB)