Learning to spell is a difficult but essential task for children learning to read. Several spelling tasks involving different cognitive demands are used in classroom. To provide better guidance for teaching practices, a critical question is whether spelling performance of beginner readers is task dependent. The present study focuses on the…

Picture book reading is essential in the early stages of learning and development. The current study aimed to incorporate picture books to improve first graders' scientific thinking, including scientific reasoning and creativity. The study adopted a quasi-experimental research design. There were 24 students in the experimental group and 23 in the…

School moves are common during elementary school in the United States. The authors address whether changing schools and residences affects the academic and behavioral development of young students. Utilizing data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, the regression analyses show that, after controlling for prior achievement and behavior,…

The authors examined the cognitive benefits of physical manipulation. Participants were 76 kindergarten and first-grade students randomly assigned to 2 strategies: stories with pictures or manipulation. In the pictures strategy, participants listened to story content and viewed pictures. In the manipulation strategy, participants moved…

Results of two experiments involving kindergarten and first grade students indicate that oral blending of dictated sounds into consonant-vowel-consonant words was markedly and significantly better when no pauses intervened between sounds than when pauses of one or three seconds intervened. Interactions between pause interval and word familiarity…

Results of this study supported the belief that whole language strategies and routines used in first grade classrooms will yield scores on traditional reading standardized achievement tests that are comparable or superior to those resulting from the use of basal reader programs. (Author/IAH)