Children have a natural inclination to play and imagine themselves as characters. Research has supported theories that connect this pretend play and related theatrical play to the development of children's social and emotional skills, but the author contends we need further, more rigorous research on whether such play directly relates to such…

This study examined whether maternal evaluations of children's emergent literacy (EL) levels, maternal mediation during a book-reading activity with children, and the children's EL levels differ as a function of socioeconomic status (SES; low vs. high), and whether the relationships between these variables differ as a function of SES levels. Study…

Presents ideas for public library family programs and discusses some of the advantages and disadvantages of including parents in the programs. (MES)

Children need many opportunities to draw inferences and to sharpen visual imagery. Reading a story and having pupils visualize the images it evokes is good practice. (Author)

Two implications for instruction in language arts are suggested. First, more reading of children's literature in the reading/language arts curriculum will foster learning the way language is written. Second, teaching story discourse rules directly is inappropriate, since children will tacitly construct the rules much as they have developed other…

Describes a high school unit which combines the writing of children's stories with the reading of the finished stories to primary school students. (DD)

Presents guidelines for reading/listening activities for the holiday season. Eight suggested stories about Christmas or Hanukkah for grades 2 through 6 are listed. (MES)

Suggests using an ultraviolet or "black" light as a tool for storytelling and reading aloud, and describes four black light activities which bring an extra measure of excitement to books. (JM)

Discusses Lawrence Kohlberg's stages of moral development and suggests procedures both for analyzing moral issues in a story and for discussing these issues with children. (DD)

These suggestions for children's programs in a rural community library are based on the experiences of the Pittsfield (Illinois) Public Library. The importance of good public relations with the children, the community, and the schools is stressed. A preschool story hour and summer session activities for preschool through grade 4 children are…

The "Research in Practice Series" is published four times each year by Early Childhood Australia. The series aims to provide practical, easy to read, up-to-date information and support to a growing national readership of early childhood workers. The books bring together the best information available on wide-ranging topics and are an…

The article explores the use of literary craft tracking (tracking literary styles in different works) as a method of literature study in a class for the gifted. (PHR)

Focusing on common misconceptions about children who have trouble learning to read, two papers discuss new ways to think about and teach these students. "Revaluing Readers and Reading," by Kenneth S. Goodman, argues that troubled readers should not be thought of as sufferers from an illness, but as strong, healthy individuals fully…

Two studies carried out by James Squire and Jesse Stuart explored processes used in reading the short story, ways of exploring student's processes, possibilities within the short story as a literary genre, and methods teachers can use. Squire's study showed that introspection and retrospection are useful in studying students' reading processes. In…

Reading aloud is an essential part of the classroom instructional program, along with direct instruction and sustained silent reading or book contact, and should not be slighted despite the numerous time demands from other sources. Reading aloud to children provides opportunities for introducing children to good literature and encourages language…