This article discusses how to implement paired reading with developing readers to foster students' fluency and reading comprehension. The teacher first helps students comprehend the story with focused discussion questions and the completion of a beginning, middle, and end (B-M-E) chart. Then, the teacher scaffolds students to do the oral reading…

Reviews information from documents in the ERIC system that deal with such matters as whether preschool children should be taught to read and, if so, whether instruction should be formal or informal. (DD)

Suggests that picture book stories about music and musical instruments can be effectively blended with music experiences in an early childhood education program. Offers ideas for doing this in the elementary school classroom; includes a list of recommended books. (FL)

Features literature to help with one goal educators have--to nurture the desire to always learn something new. Presents annotations of children's books including topics such as: examining the learning process, learning by trial and error, learning challenges and anxieties, choices and responsibilities in learning, and learning as exploration. (SG)

Presents suggestions for using plays in the classroom as a means of developing language and reading skills. Provides a list of plays covering many topics and grade levels. (FL)

Describes how the Internet can be used to support the active construction of knowledge within classroom, and can be used to create authentic literacy experiences for children. Discusses how literacy and learning are being redefined by the social constructivist perspective and constructivism. Notes specific Web sites. (SR)

Annotates journal articles, ERIC documents, and books that provide ideas and activities for classroom teachers and supervisors who want to improve reading instruction for gifted students. (FL)

Presents a 25-item annotated bibliography for beginning readers, 30 items for young readers, 19 items for intermediate readers, and 24 items for advanced readers--all selected by children. Gives tips for parents, primary caregivers, and educators. Describes the Children's Choice project and book selection. (SG)

Provides sources of information for (1) the rationale and theory for integrating the arts and reading instruction, (2) practical suggestions to combine reading and the arts, (3) the results of research that investigated the integration of reading with the arts. (FL)

Defines the term "cognitively disabled"; discusses some of the negative assumptions about the cognitively disabled found in many books, while simultaneously noting the books' positive aspects; and provides an annotated bibliography of books that deal with cognitively disabled people. (FL)

Offers a 69-item list of children's books published in 1996 or 1997 that are suitable for kindergarten and first-grade children in helping them develop phonemic awareness. Offers a letter to parents that describes some specific activities they can do at home that highlight phonemic awareness. Offers a parents' phonemic awareness observation…