Describes a drama-based language arts unit taught to a fifth grade class. Provides empirical evidence that drama as a strategy of instruction embedded within a writing/language arts unit helps students improve their writing. Suggests continued research and development of drama as a strategy of instruction. (PM)

Examines the effect of key concept mapping strategies on reading comprehension and writing performance of fifth grade students using basal reading materials. Concludes that key concept mapping enhances comprehension of factual/informative text, but has no effect on written composition. Finds that literary mapping strategies enhanced neither…

Discusses student responses to and interactions with a professional children's writer who visited a fifth grade writing workshop. Describes the emerging confidence as writers of the children and the classroom teacher as a result of the author's visits. (HTH)

The Level 5 activity book is designed to help children learn that writing messages and stories will help them see the value of learning to spell. The workbook's program is based on the ideas that accurate spelling contributes to the clarity of written messages; spelling accuracy shows attention to detail, sending a positive message to teachers and…

This report describes a program for improving students' writing skills in the areas of mechanics and organization through the implementation of a Writer's Workshop. The targeted population consists of fourth and fifth grade students in a Midwestern community located outside of a major city. Evidence for the existence of this problem is shown…

A qualitative study examined the use of retelling as a culturally responsive strategy for Micronesian students. More specifically, it examined the effect of the retelling strategy on the literacy development of an 11-year-old Micronesian student from Chuuk over the course of 9 months in a fifth-grade Guam classroom. Results showed increases in the…

Three fifth graders with learning disabilities received instruction designed to help them incorporate three common planning strategies into their current approach to writing. Students learned to set goals, brainstorm ideas, and sequence their ideas while writing stories and completing assignments. The schematic structure of stories improved, and…

The purpose of this study was to examine the quantity of words written by an intermediate elementary student when paper and pencil are used and compare it with the quantity of words written with a computer. One fifth-grade magnet homeroom consisting of 16 students was involved in this study. The participants were randomly placed into two groups.…

The research reported in this paper is a case study of one student's learning in a writers' workshop where two teacher-researchers were developing new curriculum and instructional practices. The case study was developed out of a larger qualitative study in which 47 fifth-grade students' growth as writers was studied over a 1-year period as they…

Examines the effectiveness of the Direct Instruction program "Reasoning and Writing" in improving the writing and reasoning abilities of gifted fifth-grade students. Notes significant improvement in writing skills of students using "Reasoning and Writing," yet no significant difference in reasoning skills. Provides implications…

Provides details of 10 students with learning disabilities or behavioral disorders who were taught in a special education resource room using the "Reasoning and Writing" program. Notes students made large and statistically significant gains. Suggests that a relatively brief intervention with "Reasoning and Writing" had a…

Describes a program where at-risk fifth-grade students were treated to a writing program that utilized prewriting activities to see if their written expression and writing anxiety would improve. Compares students' before and after papers utilizing their holistic scores on written expression. Demonstrates that student writing anxiety can be lowered…

This action research project described a program for increasing student skills in writing. The targeted population consisted of fifth grade academically talented, regular education, and inclusion students in a middle class, western suburb of a Midwestern city. The inadequacy of student writing skills was documented through writing samples, local…

A practicum addressed fifth and sixth graders' deficiencies in writing and comprehension skills with the implementation of diagnostic-prescriptive teaching techniques. The Multi Level Academic Skills Inventory and interest inventories aided in defining students' specific strengths and weaknesses in the areas of reading and language arts. Among the…

This ethnographic study of 22 bilingual Mexican American fifth grade students in rural Texas examines which pedogogical techniques reduced students' risk of failure. Classroom instruction was based on Cummins' model of community intervention in which story-telling, dialogue journal writing, and bilingual dialogue between teacher and students…