In this contributed collection, 23 teachers explain their successful strategies for teaching the social studies disciplines in a whole language context. The collection covers contemporary subjects, traditional topics, well-known projects, social studies in the community, and multicultural matters. It can be used at elementary through middle and…

This book offers 80 original chants for teaching children to play with language, discover their ownership of language, and experiment with language. The book states that chants can provide a strategy that develops reading skills, ease in dramatic situations, sidebars in art work, communication abilities, awareness of self and environment, and…

This book provides practical implementation strategies for, and a clear outline of, the theory behind the child-centered classroom, a theory which involves an understanding of the concepts of whole language and active learning. It is hoped that teachers will use the ideas in the book to build their own beliefs and understandings, and to develop…

This book aims to help teachers who are committed to whole language principles explain the philosophy to their students' parents. It addresses the concerns of parents who most likely grew up in a traditional, teacher-centered educational system, and who therefore might be unfamiliar with a whole language approach to language arts. Drawing on work…

This activities book illustrates how teachers can use teaching methods and strategies to build children's language arts skills as well as create a stimulating, enriched environment. The activities in the book include many opportunities for the integration of the language arts across the curriculum. Because of the growing demand for…

Arguing that students should be encouraged frequently to listen, to speak, to read, and to write in all areas of the curriculum and to begin asking the questions that reveal the dependence that exists between various bodies of knowledge, this book is based on the whole-language theory. The book is designed not only to help students learn such…

This book examines the basic principles of the cognitive psychology of literacy and explains how insights gained from that theory can inform and improve reading, spelling, and writing instruction aimed at adults. The following are among the topics discussed in the book's eight chapters: the principles of cognitive psychology (the nervous system,…

Applying the conditions of natural learning to create caring kindergarten classroom environments may support students as lifelong learners. This book presents a natural learning classroom model for implementing a whole-language approach in kindergarten. The chapters are as follows: (1) "My Beliefs about How Children Learn"; (2) "Applying Whole…