Despite strong support for integrating reading and writing instruction, writing practice is often crowded out of the schedule in elementary classrooms. To promote increased emphasis on writing, a working group of literacy researchers highlights three writing goals and six research-based reading-to-writing practices to enliven instruction with more…

Research shows that cognitively demanding text-based writing assignments increase students' reading comprehension skills and analytic writing competencies. In this article, we describe the steps that upper-elementary grade teachers can take to develop cognitively demanding assignments that build these higher-level literacy skills and put students…

Provides directions for making four-page fold-a-books for children to use when authoring their own books. (MG)

Presents six reading and writing activities: "Details, Details, Details" (Rona F. Flippo and Judy Anderson Smith); "Reading and Writing Informational Texts" (Joyce Joranko); "The Teacher Writes: Before and for Children" (Ann Horn); "A School Newspaper: The Crown Press" (Judy Kissell); "Short Snappers…

Offers four practical ideas for classroom use within the field of literacy education: (1) "Press Conference: A Strategy for Integrating Reading with Writing"; (2) "Expressing Ethnic Identity through Brown-Bag Big Books"; (3) "Beanstalk Heroes: Jack and Jim in an Integrated Primary Curriculum"; and (4) "Reading the World around Us." (PRA)

Describes the procedures for writing "Jack Tales," adaptations of the familiar folktale "Jack and the Beanstalk." Discusses how this writing activity integrates reading and writing across the curriculum and effectively heightens multicultural awareness as students try to apply the basic plot structure to diverse cultural settings. (MG)

Describes the development and use of the Traveling Tales backpack for engaging children and parents in home writing activities. Shares the experiences of one child and how his family became involved in helping him write a book. (MG)