Fans often express their love of authors or books by creating and sharing "fanfiction," a genre wherein fans write new narratives that add to beloved works or take place in existing story worlds. In this article, we describe a kindergarten teacher's efforts to enhance students' foundational literacy skills by combining author studies…

Many teachers make reading and writing poetry an important part of the school day. They use different instructional strategies that invite students to write poetry in meaningful, engaging, and creative ways. This article describes an instructional strategy that invites students to write etheree poetry across the curriculum. It discusses benefits…

A process writing project in a third-grade classroom explored the idea of using nonfiction mentor texts to assist students in writing their own creative informational texts about animals. By looking at author craft and structure during close reading activities with nonfiction Twin Texts, students were taught how to emulate these techniques in…

Supporting upper elementary students' higher level (i.e., analytic) thinking about texts in writing is a challenge for many teachers, in large part because what it means to analyze text is not well defined and because this skill is a relatively new expectation in elementary grades. In this article, the authors clarify the goal of three common…

Print in the environment is typically posted in early childhood classrooms. However, the print that exists is often not meaningful to children, and teachers rarely engage children in using the print. This is a missed opportunity to support children's writing. This article presents research-based ideas for engaging children with meaningful print in…

Early writing is important to young children's development--research indicates that writing is predictive of later reading and writing. Despite this, preschool teachers often do not focus on writing and offer limited scaffolding to foster children's writing development. This article shares innovative ways to scaffold early writing across the three…

The purpose of this article is to explore ways in which blogs can support literacy communities while developing a writing community. Examples of how a classroom teacher uses blogs to strengthen the writing process is described. (Contains 2 figures and 1 table.)

The greater emphasis on information books in elementary schools has led to an increased emphasis on informational writing as well. Although some have suggested utilizing mentor texts to engage children in informational writing, there has been little information about the developmental progression of children's ability to compose in this genre.…

What significance does writing have for the young writer characters in a set of children's books? Twenty-five intermediate novels featuring characters who write were studied, using content analysis, to find out. The researchers present their findings by describing the characters and why they write. Reasons for writing range from exposing injustice…

This article describes a take-home literacy project in which kindergartners took home books, a stuffed animal, a camera, and a shared writing activity to complete with their families. The children later shared their writing and experiences in school. The resulting written responses and photographs depicted a level of involvement with the families…

Describes how a class of first and second graders decided to make cautionary signs to protect their newly constructed projects. Notes that most signs could be classified as persuasive or regulatory, and how some were in the mode of engagement and surprise. (SR)

Summarizes the autonomous literacy paradigm often used in schools. Describes an alternative model, ideological literacy, which situates literacy practices within cultural values and practices. Shows how this functioned in a class of 4.5 to 5.5 year-olds, in which children's world of play was linked to the wider world and in which literacy had an…

Describes a writing project in which elementary students write Choose-Your-Own adventure stories. (SR)

Presents journal entries written by one child in kindergarten through fourth grade that demonstrates her changing understanding about spelling. Suggests what type of instruction might nudge her along in learning. Concludes that teachers must analyze individuals to best meet their needs and that a daily journal offers a perfect opportunity to…

This article begins with a rationale for using "great" poems with children and the justification for linking the reading and writing of poetry. First, the author provides tips for teachers to use when selecting adult poems and offers a brief bibliography of classic poetry collections and anthologies appropriate for children. Next, suggestions for…