The purpose of this article is to introduce text sets of picture books that address 10 ancient civilizations commonly taught in middle school and also offer instructional strategies that could be used for critical and multicultural literacy exploration. Beginning with discussion of the importance of picture books and text sets in the middle school…

This book, a guide for adults to help children create their own original and creative books, demonstrates how constructing (writing and editing) their own books can be an engaging and highly educational experience for children. The book uses simple, easy-to-follow instructions to demonstrate how scores of different book forms can be made from a…

Presents an overview of research on using mental imagery to assist reading and listening comprehension, and provides practical suggestions for teaching students to use visual imagery to enhance comprehension. (SKC)

Suggestions for teaching reading in ways that motivate students and help them to grasp new words and concepts are given. Presentation of background material and use of vocabulary games, audiovisual aids, role playing, tape recorders, and other learning activities are discussed. (PP)

Sets forth a theory of style in picture books which focuses on artists' choices in expressing meaning and shows how a literary and aesthetic discourse may evolve as children respond to these choices. Suggests how teachers can create a classroom context which will promote the fullest communication between a child and a picture book.(NH)

This article explains to teachers how they can identify their personal modality strength (auditory, visual, or kinesthetic) and how this orientation affects their classroom style. Techniques are also suggested for providing reading help to auditory, visual, and kinesthetic learners. (SJL)

Works of art can be a valuable tool for teaching reading skills, such as visual discrimination, language experience, word recognition, vocabulary, reading comprehension, and other language arts skills. Classroom activities based on art work are described. Sources of art reproductions are noted. (PP)

Ways in which semantic mapping can be used for general vocabulary development, as a prewriting and prereading activity, as a postreading activity, and as a study skill strategy are presented in this teaching guide. The first two sections provide an introduction to semantic mapping, and outline the three most common uses of semantic mapping as an…