Describes the innovative techniques that can be used in an elementary school library to motivate children, from kindergarten through the upper grades, to read. (Author/LLS)

Describes a unique exchange program between Mexico and California in which poets go to the foreign country to teach poetry writing, with local poets, to elementary school children. Provides samples of exercises in poetry writing and excerpts of children's poetry, translated from Spanish into English. (KEH)

Experiencing literature is the first step toward becoming a literary critic. The primary task of the literary critic is to understand and explain what is experienced and then to interpret works of literature in relation to all the literature the student knows. To help children grow as critics of literature it is necessary to broaden their…

In this study of children's television viewing, 105 junior-high-school students reported the television programs they watched, the amount of time they spent each day watching television, and their reasons for watching television. The following results are reported: sixth graders watch more television than do seventh or eighth graders; sixth-grade…

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of listening to excerpts from children's stories about Mexican-Americans on children's attitudes toward Mexican-Americans, self-concepts, and interests. The sample consisted of 220 sixth-graders. Once weekly for six weeks, experimental groups heard excerpts about Mexican-Americans, while…

A curriculum model is presented for stimulating wide interests at the elementary level, to develop a student pool that would sustain a nationwide residential high school for the gifted. The model presents 16 conceptual schemes for developing curricula in social sciences, humanities and sciences. (Author/KM)

Reveals (1) some sex differences in children's reading preferences, but indicates some overlap; (2) that minority and nonminority children differed to some extent in their preferences, but had more similarities than differences; and (3) that children's reading interests have changed little in two decades. (FL)

Reports findings of a survey of elementary school children concerning their preferences when being read to by others. Gives their responses to the survey's 11 questions and draws recommendations from them. (FL)

This paper discusses and demonstrates how to use children's interests combined with children's literature to make learning easier. According to the paper, the concept is to choose an area that excites children, one where they already have a developed schemata or knowledge base, then to use children's trade books about that topic to teach the…

When teachers lay the weight of the world's ecological problems on elementary students before they have fostered the kind of connectedness that underlies appropriate environmental education, they create a condition of fear and disempowerment called "ecophobia." The paper suggests that teachers must lead with emotional connectedness…

Designed to assess children's preferences for story settings, the instrument requires children to indicate their preference for a story setting in each of 36 pairs of contrasting pictures, 12 pairs in each of the following categories: (1) fantasy versus realism, (2) past versus contemporary, and (3) geographically remote versus the near-at-hand.…

Twenty-one papers from the Open Forum on Core Programs are included in this collection: (1) "The IFLA (International Federal of Library Associations) UAP (Universal Availability of Publications) Programme" (M. F. Plassard, IFLA Programme Officer); (2) "Progress Report on IFLA Core Programme for Universal Dataflow and…

Observations of American instructors and students in England, as well as English publications, reveal that English primary teachers treat writing as a way for children to share their personal experiences, and they correspondingly emphasize freedom of expression, fluency, and the retention and development of imaginative responses. Teachers enrich…

Suggests that the figure of the bear (and animals in general) in children's literature is a pleasing one to children, and helps them learn to love their instinctive, natural selves. (JC)

Reports the findings of a study that replicated work done in the early 1970s concerning the media preferences and reading interests of intermediate grade children. Shows that the reading interests of boys remained much the same, with those of girls changing. Both groups continued to prefer television over print media. (FL)