Offers observations from a literature-rich kindergarten classroom to reveal that children who are presented with models and opportunities to dramatize literature will engage spontaneously in dramatic story reenactments. (SR)

Presents a seven-step technique for teaching primary school students to recognize function words. Describes a method for eliciting parent help in the task and offers suggestions for review and follow-up activities. (FL)

Describes two writing activities for primary grade students to complete at home with the help of their parents. (MG)

Describes ERIC documents pertaining to the role of parents in preparing their children to read and the ways in which they can help shape and strengthen a school's reading program. (FL)

Discusses how all children must learn to work to overcome a difficulty, take initiative, and make links with what they already know. Illustrates these actions with instructional interactions in kindergarten and first-grade classrooms. Notes how teachers can establish a pattern of expectations. Outlines ways teachers can foster active learning, and…

Describes how the primary goal of the Parent Program was to constructively involve parents in their children's learning process. Notes how it gives them specific ideas and methods to assist their children in literacy acquisition. Hopes that the program will get materials in the homes that students might need while doing homework and get more…

Describes an "educational evening out," an idea materialized when parents expressed interest in reading during their first-quarter conferences with teachers. Notes that the parents showed so much interest in learning how to read with their children at home that the teachers made plans to have a literacy night in their first-grade classroom. (SG)

Shares the collaboration of the authors in the development of a reading/writing, literature-based curriculum. Uses "Sesame Street" print materials to connect home and school. (MG)

Describes a parent volunteer tutoring program, called "Reading Together," that is run by members of the community, and that provides opportunities for kindergarten and pre-first-grade children to read and write in a playful environment. (SR)

Describes a parent/teacher partnership that stretched over one school year: a home response journal/literacy conference effort involving parent/teacher conferences, discussion of the reading-development continuum, weekly newsletters, and response journals in which parents wrote about their children's interactions with language. Shows how parents…

Describes the "Let's Read Together" program designed as a four-week summer reading camp. Concludes that this program, while supplying the children with direct reading instruction, also empowered parents to become more involved and to feel more confident in assisting their children academically. (SC)

Reports on a reading program that showed parents of underachieving inner-city primary school children how to help their children improve their reading performance. Concludes that the parents not only helped their children but also improved their own reading ability. (FL)

Discusses the benefits of reading aloud to preschool and kindergarten children. Notes that active participation accounts for many of these benefits. Suggests several interactive story reading strategies, including a Directed Listening-Thinking Activity and shared book experiences. (MM)

Describes the "Three for the Road" reading program which sends children home with a backpack containing specific sets of books, activity suggestions, and materials (puppets, a response journal, and writing materials). Elaborates theoretical foundations of the program, tells how to implement it, and shares examples of first graders' and their…