The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) released a report that applies two methodological approaches new to the WWC that together aim to improve researchers' understanding of how early literacy interventions may work to improve outcomes for students in grades K-3. First, this report pilots a new taxonomy developed by early literacy experts and…

Literacy skills are the cornerstones of student learning and achievement. Now more than ever, educators are expected to produce quantitative data that demonstrates a high level of literacy success. Simultaneously, teachers are encountering a diverse student population that requires greater differentiation in instructional strategies. This research…

Examined how first, second, and third graders learned to spell and investigated other questions related to learning to spell. Data came from teacher notes, spelling pretests and posttests, and interviews about students' perceptions of writing samples and of themselves as spellers. Results indicated that spelling was a developmental process, and…

Reports that after more than 50 years of argument as to whether children should be taught the names of letters as part of learning to read, American researchers have begun to suggest that letter name instruction and phonics instruction interact for better learning. (FL)

A study examined the effects of daily journal writing on kindergarten children's phonics acquisition. At St. Joseph School in Carteret, New Jersey, 21 kindergartners kept daily journals in addition to normal classroom instruction over a period of 4 months, while the 20 kindergartners in another class received only the normal classroom phonics…

Early childhood educators are concerned with the most effective method of integrating whole language and phonics to maximize emergent literacy skills. In kindergarten, it is especially important to provide the students with a variety of institutional approaches to accommodate different learning styles. A study examined the effectiveness of Super…

There are continuing debates about the best approach to teaching reading--phonics or whole language. The most valuable link to learning to read is phonological or phonemic awareness, as soon as the alphabetic system is mastered. After phonemic awareness has been established, students enter the orthographic stage where they can process longer…

Describes the successes of Writing to Read (WTR) program used with students in kindergarten and grade one as well as with two key subgroups (low-socioeconomic students and males who lag behind in reading and writing). Finds that with this program these subgroups can progress in reading and writing, and fewer students are recommended for remedial…

A study examined the hypothesis that if young children are immersed in a social and psychological setting appropriate for language learning they can learn to write simply by writing. Placed in a supportive classroom environment, 24 first grade students were expected to communicate in writing in any way they could from their first day at school.…

Describes how science activities are integrated with reading and writing activities to teach reading to inner-city first graders in Portland, Oregon. Both explicit phonics and whole-language instruction are used, along with pocket charts, poetry, small-group instruction, leveled books, running records, jump-rope rhymes, and story writing. (SAS)