This paper describes a program intended to motivate elementary students to read for recreational purposes. The targeted population consists of first-, second-, and third-grade students in a growing middle class community located in the south suburban area of Chicago, Illinois. The problem of students' attitudes toward recreational reading was…

No one denies that students have many more distractions today than in days gone by. The need for family involvement in a child's reading progress joins a surge in American society for parents to take more responsibility for their children's character and in the condition of their communities. Some hints for parents in establishing family literacy…

A study investigated how students felt about the "extra" reading activities and opportunities offered to them through an after-school recreational reading program. Ten fifth-grade students who were deemed most critically in need in terms of academic progress were observed in the after-school reading activities and were interviewed. Six…

Designed for parents, this booklet provides parents with information about encouraging literacy in young children in the format of a children's book with illustrations from various works by noted children's illustrator Tomie dePaola. The booklet emphasizes the importance of reading to and with children, stressing that reading helps children learn…

Discusses the effects of a sustained silent reading (SSR) program on school administrators, teachers, librarians, and the students. Offers suggestions on setting up an SSR program. (SRT)

Concludes that students involved in a peer-interaction model and an individual teacher-student conference model of recreational reading instruction obtained higher scores on a reading attitude measure than students in a sustained silent reading and a control model. Students involved in the peer-interaction model received significantly higher…

Reports on the reading interests of 450 Russian secondary school graduates enrolled in a mathematics and physics-oriented technical school in Moscow. Finds that students' interests changed during two periods in recent Russian history: (1) 1988-1990--the perestroika period; and (2) 1991-1992--the "market" period. (CFR)

Includes seven articles that discuss how to motivate middle school, junior high, and senior high school students to read. Highlights include problems in encouraging recreational reading; magazines; activities to promote books and reading; an annotated bibliography of books on Columbus and other explorers; women's history activities; and gender…

This paper reports on a study of primary-grade students (N=79) and their parents in an attempt to identify opportunities for enhancing the collaborative interaction between home and school when designing quality learning environments. In particular, the study looked at the children's print concept development, reading attitudes, and family…

A study was conducted to address the problem of all students not learning to read in the same manner when the instruction was limited to only one approach, that of the basal reader with its phonics emphasis. The Reading Style Inventory, the Swassing-Barbe Modality Index, and the Bradway Quick Check were administered to the students attending the…

This report describes a plan for motivating students to read in order to allow them to enjoy and appreciate literature and to provide the practice necessary to become effective readers. The targeted population consisted of first and fourth grade students in a middle class community, located in the Middle West. The problems of minimal time engaged…

Although the highly popular Accelerated Reader (AR) book reading incentive program claims to motivate children of all reading ability levels, very little independent empirical research has examined this assertion. To help fill this void, we used two related three-factor mixed designs with Method (AR vs. Control), Gender, and either Grade Level…

Forty-eight undergraduate secondary education majors were involved in an investigation of the relationships between participation in a preservice secondary school reading methods course (which included sharing of leisure reading books as well as the traditional format) and changes in attitudes toward teaching reading in the content areas, in…

Presents findings from two studies, one concerning the home backgrounds of high volume and low volume readers, and the other a collection of case studies of three generations from several families examining how scholars are produced from relatively uneducated backgrounds. (JC)

Presents a study comparing the elements children report enjoying in a book and the elements teachers believe children enjoy. Concludes that a great discrepancy exists between the two groups, as children reported they liked books offering excitement, suspense, and action, while teachers believed children pay more attention to characters. (JC)