The teaching activities presented in this pamphlet focus on children's playground rhymes, chants, and traditional verse. The pamphlet begins with a discussion of children's lack of interest in poetry, a definition of poetry, and suggested ways to approach poetry. Following that, it explores ways to use playground chants and traditional verse: (1)…

A potpourri of activities from teachers working with elementary and middle school-aged children is featured in this journal issue. Regular features include an introductory letter, an article on elementary school activities, project updates, reviews, and announcements. The articles are as follows: (1) "Yesterday is local history to fourth…

This collection of abstracts in part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 27 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) the effects of second language learning on achievement in English; (2) developmental aspects and effects of variables on prekindergarten, kindergarten, and…

Three installments of "Ideas from the Classroom," a regular feature of the National Council of Teachers of English publication, "Notes Plus," are presented in this compilation. "Ideas from the Classroom" offers a variety of teacher-submitted activities for English and language arts instruction. The three articles in…

Based on the idea that children can learn to write letters to friends and relatives as soon as they learn to write words, this visually oriented pamphlet presents practical classroom activities that primary grade teachers can use to encourage their young students to practice letter writing skills. The pamphlet contains instructions for making a…

By integrating the language arts across the curriculum, teachers and librarians can help students make connections between what they already know and new material. Teachers committed to this approach need to spend time planning, executing, and evaluating the process and to bring the following essential components to the classroom: (1) love and…

The 17 articles in this journal issue focus on a response to the basics movement. Specific topics covered in the articles include the following: a definition of literacy, the meaning of the basics, the back-to-the-basics movement from a historical-linguistic perspective, behavior modification and the teaching of English composition, developing…

The "Idea Place," a regular feature carried by the magazine "Learning," provides an assortment of practical teaching techniques selected from commercially available materials and from ideas submitted by readers. Games and activities are given for the areas of reading, writing, spelling, mathematics, science, social studies, and…

Seven chapters consider what learning is and what counts as learning in the context of formal schooling. How qualitative research assists in this examination is explored. Qualitative research is an indispensable tool in the repertoire of research approaches that will illuminate learning discourse. (SLD)

This manual presents a program of instruction, the Basic Skills Instructional System, which coordinates a number of teaching strategies into a single instructional system. Section 1 describes the organizational phase of the system: (1) teacher expectation; (2) resistance from low achieving students; (3) avoiding confrontations; (4) management of…

The seven articles in this journal issue deal with various aspects of reading instruction. The articles discuss the following topics: (1) results of a study conducted to gain information helpful to reading specialists and school administrators in implementing new Wisconsin state reading requirements; (2) the use of creative, reading-based language…

Five issues of the journal of the California Association for the Gifted comprise this document. The first issue focuses on the contributions of the late Jeanne Delp, a leading California educator. Articles by Delp include: "Who is Virgil T. Frey?,""How to Live Successfully with the Gifted Child,""Strangers among the…

The articles in this journal issue (1) discuss involving students in various language arts activities that have peace as a theme, and (2) deal with literature for students from kindergarten through grade 12. Topics in the first part are as follows: peace education in the English classroom, the peaceful hero, understanding the language of peace,…

The strong relationship between knowledge of vocabulary and reading achievement leads to the conclusion that knowing the meaning of words in a passage enables the reader to answer questions about the passage. The goal of vocabulary instruction is the acquisition of the concepts represented by words as well as the ability to recognize and analyze…

Examining the impact of computers in language arts instruction, this journal issue focuses on the practical classroom use of computers. The essays discuss the following topics: (1) using the personal computer to organize the language arts curriculum; (2) computers in a writing project; (3) the potential of microcomputers for English classrooms;…