The purpose of this quantitative study was to provide school district leaders and policymakers information of the impact grade configuration had on academic performance using math and ELA ILEARN scores over a three-year period. The study included data from 585 schools that were classified into four groups: Elementary Setting, Intermediate Setting,…

Many teachers bring caterpillars into their class for their students to see the transformation from caterpillar to butterfly. This is exciting and educational, but more can be done using Monarchs across the curriculum. This article describes an integrated butterfly unit for students in grades four to six that starts with identifying the Monarch…

Language arts programs can be enriched by having children write and then orally interpret their own poems. (JH)

Books dealing with the theme of outdoor living inspired young boys to create their own poems. (JH)

Presents a case study of a sixth grade teacher trying to increase her use of literature for language arts instruction. Shows the challenges and successes of attempting to get better at teaching. (PRA)

This book provides an inside look at an extraordinary teacher, Linda Rief--specifically, how she converses with students and promotes their conversations among one another. The book offers insights into Linda's teaching that even she had not seen. It presents an inside look at Linda Rief in action as she establishes goals, teaches, triumphs, and…

A year-long naturalistic case study investigated teacher-initiated change efforts in language arts by examining the experiences and influences of a single sixth-grade teacher. The teacher was observed in multiple contexts (both in and out of her school), interacting with varying groups of individuals, not all of which were located within the…

Responses to a questionnaire about the language arts teaching practices of 180 grade six teachers in Calgary public schools. Tables of the ten most-used and ten least-used teaching practices are included. (AA)

Describes a short course on fiction for sixth graders through which they grasp the terminology, recognize fiction in stories they read, and demonstrate that knowledge in their own writing. (HOD)

Efferent teaching asks the student to read for a predetermined answer, focusing on another person's ideas of the text's meaning. Aesthetic teaching allows for literature to be read and experienced as art through the reader's personal transaction with the text which focuses on one's own interest to create and understand the meaning. This paper…

Describes how a teacher new to social studies created a social studies curriculum that was real, authentic, and interesting by teaching social studies through language arts with current events as the framework. (SR)

Investigated the joint effects of attitude survey format and language arts achievement level on students' (N=82) attitudes toward reading. Results indicate no significant main effect on attitude responses due to achievement level but the main effect due to survey format was significant. Interaction between achievement level and format was also…

A study investigated the nature of a sixth-grade community of readers from the emic perspective (participants' point of view). A qualitative interpretive case study was conducted in one sixth-grade language arts classroom with the researcher acting as participant-observer. Data in the form of fieldnotes, interviews, and written samples of…

A study examined how to increase active participation in a language arts class, based on the belief that such an increase would lead to better test scores and better learning. Subjects included a class of 30 homogeneously grouped accelerated sixth grade students, which meets five days a week for 90-minute periods. During the study, the class was…