Discusses the need for systematic exploration of claims about the advantages of language experience dictations; recommends that teachers guide the rereading and editing of early dictations to facilitate comprehending behaviors, and that they help children explore writing conventions as their dictations indicate a readiness to learn them. (ET)

Offers five reading activities for classroom use, including "Poetry in Motion" (Janet Millar Grant); "Book-a-Mania" (Maria Ramirez Zirkelback); "Signs of Life" (Karl A. Matz); "Football and Reading Do Mix!" (Cindy Visser); and "Poetry-of-the-Month Club" (Steven Schneider). (MG)

Describes a learning activity that focuses on integrated instruction in reading, writing, math, science, public speaking, and social skills in an atmosphere of cooperative learning. (MG)

Discusses how the use of creative dramatics within the classroom at the beginning, middle, and end of the school year can unite, rejuvenate, and motivate students. Describes how students learn decision making and immerse themselves in the responsibilities of the process. (MG)

Correspondence journals between adults and elementary-school students promote child-centered discussion and learning that is often squeezed out of the curricula. Through an extended example of an exchange of letters between a fifth-grade classroom, including several English-language learners and a university classroom of preservice teachers, the…

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)

Describes the development and use of the Traveling Tales backpack for engaging children and parents in home writing activities. Shares the experiences of one child and how his family became involved in helping him write a book. (MG)

Describes a writing project for middle school students in which they learn about the writing process by creating "choose your own adventure" stories. (MG)

Presents seven reading activities involving the preschool classroom writing environment, using big books and predictable books, using cereal boxes to foster emergent literacy, using editorials, visual-auditory links, reading outside the classroom, and ownership of writing. (MG)