Family-focused early learning programs aim to assist parents in supporting their young children language and literacy development. This study examined program access and learning opportunities for diverse families across a wide range of community-based settings in one eastern Canadian province. As well, the study examined practitioners'…

Argues that kindergarten reading programs should do the following: (1) be structured but not formal; (2) be developmentally appropriate; (3) focus upon broadening each child's experiential base; (4) foster each child's desire to become literate; and (5) provide an environment rich in printed materials and opportunities to use them. (FL)

Reports extensive observations of a whole language program in two first grade classrooms that support whole language instruction. Outlines the advantages and disadvantages of the approach for both students and teachers. (FL)

Outlines Teaching Reading as Conversation (TRAC), a program that teaches reading in an environmental context, with immersion techniques, as though it were a foreign language. (DF)

Offers five classroom activities, some teacher centered and some child centered, that develop reading and writing in five-year-old children. (FL)

Describes a program designed to train parents to help in their children's literacy development. Examines the typical parent enrolled in the program and explains how teachers can use program information to better meet the needs of students with literacy deficiencies. (EL)

Describes a program adopted by five native Indian bands in British Columbia in which parents promote their children's early language and reading skills in the home. (FL)