Assessment is essential for designing individualized educational plans (IEPs) for children. In order to contribute effectively to this process, assessments must be appropriate for the group, show neither floor nor ceiling effects, and help teachers formulate specific aims. Different attempts to develop such assessments for the writing of deaf…

This paper presents an exploratory study that created a virtual reality environment (VRE) to stimulate motivation and creativity in imaginative writing at primary school level. The main aim of the study was to investigate if an interactive, semi-immersive virtual reality world could increase motivation and stimulate pupils' imagination in the…

Handwriting currently has a low status and profile in literacy education. This paper examines the situation of current handwriting pedagogy in England and considers why handwriting efficiency has been neglected. The paper goes on to identify a number of studies located in the domains of special needs and psychology which re-evaluate the role of…

Children benefit in many ways from actively engaging in high quality children's literature, and picture books provide a natural avenue to motivate and encourage students' writing. Shared book experiences in small or large group settings can lead to meaningful writing discussions and applications. Picture books serve as exemplars of the six…

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…

Explores emergent knowledge of genre-specific characteristics of 20 kindergartners and 20 first graders when composing three types of genre stories, personal letters, and shopping lists. Finds that stories and letters were associated with conventional writing systems--genre characteristics probably determined patterns of association. Highlights…

Explores children's working knowledge of narrative, scientific, and poetic genres. Finds that children had significantly more experience with narrative genres than either scientific or poetic genres; and possessed more knowledge of text structure than micro-level features such as cohesion markers. Contributes to theorizing genre learning as a…

Metaphor-making is a universal human endeavor that manifests across cultures in various ways. Analyzing metaphors enables educators to gain a greater understanding of many social and cultural issues. Teaching children to write through metaphor based upon their emotional landscapes can reveal much of their inner worlds. Such texts can have a…

This paper describes the work done by a third-grade class to write and present adaptations of Dickens'"A Christmas Carol" and Shakespeare's "The Tempest." Students explored the authors' lives and collectively wrote their own renditions of the stories; the entire short text of their version of "The Tempest" is included. (PB)

Notes that "Reading Rainbow"'s third annual contest for young writers and illustrators will be held from January-April 1997; it is administered primarily through local PBS stations which hold their own contests and submit winners to "Reading Rainbow." States that children in grades K-3 should submit a story and at least five…

Examines young children's ability to vary the forms of emergent writing as they wrote a story, a shopping list, and a letter to a friend at three different times during the school year. Finds that children apply their emergent knowledge about written language differently. Indicates a considerable mismatch between written products and knowledge of…

A grade one through two teacher describes how her class created and shared original hardcover books. Highlights include how to put the books together, a source for ordering blank books, handwritten vs. typed books, and a "literary luncheon" to share the books with families. (PEN)

Examines the concept of "word" in beginning literacy, where children were assigned typical concepts of word tasks (copying from the board, writing from dictation, free writing) at the beginning and end of the year. Compares spelling scores with the concept of word measures. Finds a developmental hierarchy in concept of word acquisition…

Suggesting that children attempt to represent the phonological forms of words when they spell, this book presents a detailed examination of the spellings produced by a group of 46 American first graders. Chapter 1 of the book introduces the study and relates it to previous research on children's spelling. Chapter 2 examines the children's…