The middle grades are in crisis. By state and national measures, student achievement gains realized in the elementary grades all too often diminish by grade 8. In most states, the considerable policy focus on high schools in recent years has not trickled down to a focus on the middle grades --yet preparation for "college- and work-ready standards"…

It is easy for intermediate students to get the wrong ideas about the purpose of reading. Educators pay so much attention to decoding and fluency in the early years that children sometimes come to believe that flawless and rapid word recognition is the point. As texts get more demanding or unfamiliar, some of the "good readers" in classes begin to…

The relationship between fourth graders' performance on role-taking tasks and referential communication tasks was assessed. (JMB)

Explores 10- to 12-year old spellers' sensitivity to, and knowledge of, derivational morphology with lexical items varying in orthographic and phonological transparency and opacity. Finds some evidence that the depth of segmentation to base morphology and the converse process of derived morphology of words plays a role in the spelling performance…

This article reports on an exploratory, longitudinal study, which examined six teachers' views on the factors that affect technology use in classrooms. The research examined teachers of grades 4, 5, and 6--for three years, studying the teachers both as a group and as individual case studies. Three case studies were selected for analysis, with the…

This packet is the senior part of a series of worksheet packets available at both junior (grades 3-4) and senior (grades 5-6) levels that covers a variety of humane and environmental topics. Each packet includes 10 worksheets, all of which originally appeared in past issues of the annual teaching magazine "KIND (Kids in Nature's Defense)…

This study measured the relationships among three classroom creativity assessment procedures: (1) student and teacher rating of each other's performance, (2) two subtests from Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking, and (3) judges' ratings of student-produced classroom products. (BRT)

The dimensionality of original thinking in gifted children was investigated using measures designed to control for the ideational fluency/originality confounding and for task ambiguity in 315 gifted fourth to sixth graders. Ss were instructed to give only one response on each originality task rather than to give as many as possible and were…

GRADES OR AGES: Can be used at any level, but is mostly geared to "intermediate children." SUBJECT MATTER: Language arts. ORGANIZATION AND PHYSICAL APPEARANCE: The guide is divided into five main sections, one each for perceiving, listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Each section is in list form. The guide is xeroxed and staple-bound with a…

Research on handwriting performance and instruction for intermediate students with disabilities is summarized, and it is noted that about 21 percent of third-year pupils need help with handwriting. (CL)

The nation's public schools can systematically promote the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary for good health. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services contracted to evaluate the School Health Curriculum Project and three other approaches. The design, implementation, and benefits of the School Health Education Evaluation (SHEE) are…

Anchoring, a neurolinguistic programing technique, was successful in helping a sixth grader with learning disabilities reduce his anxiety reaction to math tasks. Other uses for the approach are noted and guidelines offered. (CL)

A debating program has been successful in developing issue resolution, research skills, and public speaking skills among gifted fifth and sixth graders. A high school debate program is modified to make it more manageable. (CL)

A beginning teacher of intermediate gifted students describes her experiences with a mentorship program involving seven preservice teacher trainees. Both students and mentors responded positively to the approach. (CL)