Explicit pedagogy that focuses on visual design and composition principles can affect students' responses to and understanding, interpretation and analysis of images, as well as the creation of their own visual representations. This article considers the why, the what, and the how of teaching various visual elements of art and design to students…

During a 10-week classroom-based study, 20 fourth grade students participated in a number of interdependent activities that focused on developing their visual meaning-making skills and competencies. As well as reading, responding in writing to and discussing a selection of picturebooks, graphic novels, and magazines, the students created graphic…

This article describes the influence of process drama on fourth grade students' written language productivity and specificity. Participants included 16 students with learning and/or behavioral challenges at an urban public charter school. The influence of process drama on students' written language was compared across contextualized and…

Describes the steps taken by a fourth grade teacher and her students which resulted in the publication of a guidebook to metropolitan Denver. (DD)

A classroom study examined a variety of informal drama activities incorporated into a language arts program. During the year, the fourth-grade students engaged in six different drama events as responses to a variety of class read-alouds. Each drama event (pantomime, tableau, town or class meeting, talk show, buddy conversation, and storytelling)…

Describes how one fourth-grade teacher used television, videos, computers, classroom guests, and lots of reading and writing to engage his students in their language-arts unit, focusing on the book "Shiloh." Discusses how such "intermediality" (using multiple media) increases students' comprehension and understanding of text, capturing their…

In 1979 the research department of the Fort Worth Independent School District (Texas) developed a plan for evaluating the utilization of time in elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools. This report deals with the classroom observation undertaken in grades four, seven, and ten. Activities in math and language arts classes were…

Illustrates how studying fourth-grade students' language-play response discourses and sharing students' patterns of thinking with them can lead to authentic assessment that fuels learning. Discusses open activities (providing challenge, autonomy, and social collaboration) that foster language-play response. Discusses what is meant by language…

Posing as an avuncular letter writer, the author discusses the problems faced by first-time teachers teaching fourth-grade composition. Proposes exercises to motivate children to write, communication inspiring ways to arrange classroom environment, guided free-writing assignments, and heuristics prompts for writing a fairy tale. (JG)

Developed for grades kindergarten through four, this book contains activities for using the newspaper as an educational resource for content area instruction. The first two sections of the book offer a pretest for determining how much students use newspapers and what they know about newspapers, and introductory information on newspaper components…

Designed to improve student achievement in the English language arts by engaging students in literacy standards, this draft document presents content standards and benchmarks that will help prepare North Dakota students for new complexities of work and social life. The document begins with a preface, a list of basic assumptions, and definitions of…

Designed to help classroom teachers implement the "Alabama Course of Study: Language Arts," this curriculum guide for grades 4-6 is in three major sections. The first section is a table of contents that lists desired student outcomes under each of the major strands mandated by the course of study (listening, speaking, reading, and…

This book of instructional activities for grades four through six contains Delaware's State Content Standards for English Language Arts. The standards were developed in 1985 by a committee of teachers representing all grade levels. Used as a basis for curriculum planning in school districts throughout Delaware, the standards were designed to guide…

The curriculum guide for teachers of Spanish language arts for native Spanish-speaking students in the Chicago public schools' bilingual education program is introduced by a section defining the areas to be emphasized in the program: word attack, comprehension skills, study skills, and literature appreciation. Sections follow for each of the areas…

The Fort Worth (Texas) Board of Education, Superintendent, and Texas State Legislature have implemented changes in the schools to increase student learning time. The purposes of this study were to determine (1) the percentage of allocated class time used for instruction; and (2) whether overall time utilization has changed since a similar 1979-80…