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)

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)

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 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)

Presents a reading package which includes steps to motivate wider reading interests, a list of best new books, and guidelines for organizing a school bookstore. (RH)

Presents suggestions for developing a thematic teaching unit to help students overcome fear by learning about the courage of survivors in literature. The article recommends reading a story aloud, discussing courage and survival of the characters, and developing group-guided reading activities that involve individual or group projects. (SM)

Describes how to use a "natural language" technique that makes use of stories that contain predictable language patterns (such as those with words that are repeated or that rhyme) in teaching beginning reading. (MKM)

Discusses the ways in which poetry can be used to highlight literary aspects of children's books, such as characterization, locale, mood and archetypes. Suggestions are offered for the selection and use of poetry by teachers and librarians. (23 references) (CLB)

Discusses how storytelling can be used as an effective way of developing literacy for preschool children who are deaf or hard of hearing. A sample lesson illustrates how themes from children's books can lead to a myriad of topics touching a variety of content areas. (CR)

Argues that it is important for high school teachers to present literature orally to students, and explains the proper way to do so. (JL)