Science education is central to the lives of all Americans. Students face a world where they will frequently be required to make important decisions on issues that range from health care to the environment. Achieving literacy in science will require coherence at all levels and across components of the system including curriculum, assessment, and…

This Special Issues Brief from the "Center on Great Teachers and Leaders" (GTL Center) introduces an approach to creating coherence among three potentially transformative instructional reforms: implementation of the Common Core State Standards for student learning, new standards-based teacher evaluation systems, and job-embedded…

The implementation of effective instructional materials, such as a core reading program, by a qualified teacher is an important part of improving students' reading achievement. But selecting those instructional materials can be time-consuming. Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Southeast created this rubric for evaluating reading/language arts…

A kindergarten teacher of children with advanced language discusses her use of poetry activities to promote reading readiness, auditory discrimination, oral language, creative thinking, independent working, and a love for poetry. Creative activities begin with drawing picture interpretations and proceed to the students writing their own poems. (CL)

A creative movement and dance program at the New York State School for the Deaf uses multisensory creative activities to help meet language arts objectives. (CL)

In language education, several recent curricular developments from expressive writing to interactional reading share a common core of assumptions rooted in British Romanticism. This article compares central tenets of the New Literacy and Romanticism, focusing on the former's reconceptualization of the teacher, the student, and the language arts…

This article presents a five-day science unit focusing on fish to get kindergarten students interested in science and ideas for incorporating science instruction with language arts and art instruction. (CB)

Describes a teaching method for writing and language development in which the class meets around a large kitchen table and the teacher's written responses to children's writing provides a model for their skill development. (HTH)

Seven characteristics of an effective spelling program, supported by multiple independent research studies, are examined along with their implications for learning to spell. (HTH)

"Grandfather Moose" rhymes, written to follow the Mother Goose tradition, are short, appealing, easy-to-memorize sign language nursery rhymes which employ visual poetic devices such as similar signs and transitional flow of movement. (CB)

Describes an arts unit on music and poetry for upper elementary classes which covers tone color, dynamics, register, tempo, form, and enunciation. Students read poems, write and record their own poems, and listen to poetry readings. The unit concludes with a choral speaking experience. (AM)

Describes draw-on filmmaking as an exciting way to introduce children to the plastic, fluid nature of the film medium, to develop their appreciation and understanding of divergent cinematic techniques and themes, and to invite them into the dream world of filmmaking without the need for a camera. (AEA)

Assimilation and accommodation are two approaches for developing language arts curricula for gifted elementary grade students. Some adaptations, such as more individualized reading may be readily assimilated into existing curricula. Other changes, such as providing opportunities for technical writing, require more accommodation of current methods,…

A teacher describes how a classroom diary, part of a daily classroom routine, was created through class members sharing their experiences with each other. The diary also served as a teaching tool in such areas as language arts and handwriting. (CB)

Describes an elementary school program that uses Latin to enrich students' learning in literature, language, and writing. (HTH)