Discusses the importance of preschool literacy training. (FL)

Describes a study in which nine-year-old children wrote persuasive letters to two individuals and then participated in an oral task designed to determine their competence in listener adapted communication. (FL)

Considers register (factors that vary in situational contexts and produce differences in meaning intent and meaning exchange) variance with its accompanying language transactions during written language events involving children and adults. Illustrates register variance with the writing and drawing of a four-year-old and a first-grader. (HTH)

Describes a first grade classroom in which children learn the concept of "author" by writing their own books, which are then shared with the rest of the class. (HTH)

Examines the writing of a four-year-old child in response to literature. Discusses the child's uses for writing and the concepts and principles of early writing. Demonstrates the child's engagement with children's books. (RS)

Notes that humor and hope can produce an interest in reading and writing in children. Presents ideas for developing interest in language arts as well as suggested poems, picture books, and beginning chapter books. Also includes classroom suggestions for developing the four needs of beginning writers: ideas, words, structures, and spelling. (LBT)

The purpose of this study was to examine the way in which early childhood educators introduce reading and writing to 4- and 5-year-olds. A random sampling of the 903 public and private preschools registered with the Human Services Department in a midwestern state was conducted. Questionnaires were mailed to 687 randomly selected early childhood…

Young children learn many important things about language from the television and radio ads they encounter that can help them learn to read and write. They learn that print carries messages that are personally important to them, that whatever can be said can also be written, what some forms of written language look like, and that language use can…

Notes that because reading and writing are separate but complementary aspects of a single language system, the way teachers plan activities determines the way in which children's writing helps them develop insights into their reading. (FL)

An account of how the author's son began writing as a play activity, issuing tickets to neighbors, attempting to read and interpret signs, and participating in making shopping and duty lists in the household. Includes observational recommendations. (CRH)

Views the writing act as an act of exploration rather than the reporting of what was discovered and emphasizes six elements that achieve the surprise in writing, including expectation, ease, and acceptance. (DF)

Examines the connections between children's writing and their earlier developed form of graphic symbolism--drawing--and explores research on early writing development. Considers the range of contexts for drawing and writing presented in the classroom. (HTH)

Nine first-grade, nine second-grade, and eight third-grade children of migrant farm workers provided the data for a descriptive study of writing development in a bilingual program. (FL)

Recounts how observation of children who were just beginning to write convinced a teacher that very young children can write, and thus changed the way she taught. (JL)

This Knowledge Essentials book shows parents how to enrich their child's first classroom experience and take an active role in preschool education. This book includes advice and offers information about: (1) What a child is learning at school and the educational standards to expect in preschool-level reading and writing readiness, math, science,…