Scaffolding--supporting learners' efforts to bridge the gap between their present knowledge and the intended goal--is an effective instructional technique. The Scaffolding Reading Experience helps students get the most out of every literacy experience. The teacher considers the students, their purposes for reading, and the intended text, and…

An elementary school principal and her staff implemented a nongraded, continuous-progress model of reading instruction based on frequent assessment of student skills. The model enjoyed widespread teacher and parental support. The school, serving disadvantaged students, was recognized by the state education agency for significantly improving test…

Discusses the desirability of creating lifelong readers and suggests that the use of formulas to measure the reading levels of books and tests that assign reading levels to students do not help. Offers suggestions for school librarians to encourage reading, including helping students select books through readers' advisory. (LRW)

Children love nonfiction books, and their reading of such texts has shown a strong relationship between science achievement and informational reading and writing abilities. How can elementary teachers capitalize on this natural affinity and make the most effective use of nonfiction trade books in their classroom? There are numerous strategies to…

Holistic approaches to remedial reading can be effective in promoting the reading growth of poor readers. Learning to read is most effective when it occurs in a context of functional and meaningful literacy activity. In order to create such a context students need to be engaged with real texts in a search for meaning. Repeated readings, taped…

Recent projects in which students in mainstream classrooms were trained to act as paired reading tutors for children with reading difficulties are described. It is suggested that the benefits of peer-tutored paired reading may exceed those of parent tutoring. Guidelines and suggestions for establishing a peer tutoring project are offered. (JW)

First-graders (identified as high-risk for reading difficulties) were taught to read examples of "environmental print" (words on candy wrappers, grocery bags, newspaper advertisements) and were able to identify and write words when logos and supporting detail were removed, indicating that activities using environmental print can…

Discusses five ways to determine the amount and quality of prior knowledge children bring to a topic: (1) free recall tasks, (2) word association tasks, (3) structured questions, (4) recognition tasks, and (5) unstructured discussion. (FL)

Argues that humorous books have the potential to brighten the classroom environment, motivate students, and develop reactive, thinking readers. (FL)

Lists benefits of children's magazines as educational resources, discusses their educational implications, and offers specific activities involving the use of such periodicals. Provides a list of children's magazines available around the world. (FL)

Argues that making inferences is an integral part of reading comprehension. Presents classroom strategies based on current research that encourage inference skill development. (FL)

Suggests that integrating story maps into a reading lesson helps readers attend to details as well as to relationships between story elements before, during, and after reading. Reports findings of a study to support this belief. (FL)

An inductive concept-identification model of expository text processing, consonant with current theories of macrostructure development, is proposed as part of a reading comprehension instruction model. An evaluation study with fourth and sixth graders is described. Results are interpreted as supporting the model. (Author/BS)

Examines reading as a problem-solving process and suggests that those processes evident in reading successfully and in successful problem solving can be made conscious, thus enhancing children's success in both areas. (FL)

Recent research confirms that children learn to read best by using a balanced literacy program incorporating a combination of explicit phonics, whole language, and good literature. Long before children are able to engage in reading themselves, they must feel that reading is something they want to do. Comfortable and early familiarity with letters…