The authors report findings from an evaluation of the reading competence of students in selected elementary schools in Trinidad and Tobago. The work was conducted in eight schools and involved the testing of 450 students in standards (grades) 1 and 5 for competence in comprehension, oral reading, and word recognition. Methods and results relating…

This article features the literacy practices, resources, and strategies reported and observed in two households, by Latina mothers and their children in elementary school. Drawing on asset-based frameworks (funds of knowledge, transnational literacies, and family language policies), the analysis presents case studies of two households, featuring…

Writing is an important mode of thinking and learning for elementary students. Consistent efforts have been made to encourage discipline-specific writing, yet defining qualities of elementary mathematical writing have historically been underdeveloped. This article offers educators a new framework that conceptualizes mathematical writing as writing…

Composing is an essential part of literacy development in early childhood classrooms, and writing experiences are continually changing through advances in technology. Writing in a new language can be particularly challenging for emergent bilinguals as they navigate learning how to spell in English as part of the writing process. New pedagogical…

The article presents a classroom-based study that engaged linguistically diverse preschool and early school-age children in illustrating books, jointly composing written narratives to accompany their illustrations, and enacting these child-authored books through shared sociodramatic play. Findings from story retell tasks show significant…

The authors explored the impact of a novel, interactive performing arts-based program on students' writing skills. The program featured the Story Pirates, a group that teaches children how to write stories and then turns their stories into a musical sketch comedy show. Written stories from the third-grade students in an elementary school were…

A significant percentage of students have families from lower socioeconomic status backgrounds, yet the experiences and practices of such students are often not reflected in the curriculum. To create more equitable literacy learning environments, students need opportunities to explore economic diversity and to challenge harmful discourses about…

Teachers everywhere are embracing the challenge of conveying differences in literacy practices across fields of study. However, whereas disciplinary literacy and inquiry approaches are expanding in popularity at the secondary level, few resources exist for teaching discipline-specific writing in the elementary grades. The authors describe three…

The aim of this teaching tip is to share four key takeaways from virtual implementation of a reading intervention in a four-week summer reading camp (SRC) for rising second- and third-grade students in need of foundational skills support. The SRC, which was a partnership between a university and school district, pivoted to a virtual format for…

According to interpretations of results from the latest oral reading fluency (ORF) study conducted by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (White et al., 2020), fourth-grade students who score below the basic standard require interventions that focus on word recognition, phonological decoding, and fluency. Before such mandates for…

Picturebooks are highly sophisticated multimodal ensembles. Understanding the semiotic resources and affordances of the visual mode to represent and communicate meaning is fundamental to appreciating the artistry and complexity of picturebooks. A recent classroom-based research project with grade 2 students featured explicit instruction on…

The traditional monolingual and monoglossic perspective of literacy and biliteracy is compared with the perspective offered by translanguaging. The author explores how the monolingual and monoglossic view of literacy has been responsible for the failure of many Latinx bilingual students. A translanguaging perspective turns its attention toward the…

The ability to analyze and evaluate online sources for credibility continues to be a universal concern. In a 2006 study by the University of Connecticut, seventh graders lacked the ability to discredit a hoax website about a tree octopus. Using the same website in this qualitative study, 68 elementary students shared rationales about the source's…

The author examines the benefits of journaling in his fifth-grade classroom. Reviewing student journal data from the past 25 years, he shares an effective method for preparing a classroom for daily journaling, one that minimizes teacher-issued prompts and implements procedures for sharing and reflecting. Positive effects include insights into…

Literature circles undoubtedly foster literacy, but successful participation in literature circles requires students' social and emotional competence. The author presents findings from a study of a fifth-grade student who demonstrated socioemotional growth while participating in literature circles. Specifically, growth in intrapersonal and…