This compact book aims to help teachers in need of new ideas in early childhood phonics. It offers a collection of word study activities for the progressive classroom using the tool of magnetic letters. Adding just enough theory to make the author/educator's point, the book shows how this simple tool can support the teaching of letters and sounds…

Introduces the use of word sorts as a way of helping children categorize words in helpful ways. (TJ)

The purposes of the study were to determine whether phonic analysis training could be used to prepare children to be successful on the Auditory Analysis Test (AAT) of phonic skills and to then relate phonic knowledge to reading performance. Subjects were 40 first graders in suburban Pittsburgh who had attended kindergarten together. A group of 16…

Skill in word analysis and synthesis (WASS) and the reading approach of phonics versus whole word instruction were the test variables of achievement related to prereaders' emotions in dimensions of hyperactive/distractible, hostile/aggressive, and anxious/fearful. The two instructional approaches in reading lessons were differentially effective…

Proposes feature analysis, which actively involves students in the learning process, capitalizes on their experiential backgrounds, and uses context as a means of teaching sensitivity to word connotations. (FL)

Discusses what children know--and don't know they know--about the linguistic concept of the word, with implications for teaching. (DD)

In two experiments on free and cued recall, spacing between categorically related items, presentation rate and category size were varied and the effects on recall of items as a function of their serial order were studied. Results suggest subjects organize material during acquisition by retrieving and rehearsing previously studied items. (CHK)

A spelling study expert offers the following strategies for teaching elementary students to spell: making word-sorting games that categorize words by shared characteristics; playing letter-sequencing games; examining how root words and affixes combine to form new words; making spelling meaningful; and linking spelling study with editing and…

Elaborates on the use of syllabication in teaching pupils to recognize unknown words. Discusses specific methodologies in teaching syllabication. (RS)

Most struggling readers, including those with reading disabilities, have difficulties recognizing printed words. This unique, lucidly written book synthesizes the research on how children learn to read words skillfully and translates it into step-by-step strategies for the classroom. The author demonstrates how to plan and implement a coordinated…

A total of 292 Chinese children in the first, third, or fifth grade in Beijing, China, participated in one of two experiments investigating radical awareness; that is, the knowledge that a component of most Chinese characters, called the radical, usually provides information about a character's meaning. The technique was to present two-character…