Discusses how storytelling was used in a fifth-grade class as a tool for promoting literacy and language development by having children write and tell their own tales. Highlights the positive rewards for children. Includes suggestions and techniques for teachers to follow in their classrooms. (RS)

Describes an activity used with a fifth-grade mathematics class in which students solved a problem and wrote a convincing argument to prove their solution made sense. (SR)

Rural school students need ample opportunities to engage in creative writing, particularly the writing of poetry. A student teacher and a cooperating teacher in a rural fifth-grade classroom (with 12 students) guided the students in the writing of limericks by starting out with couplets, then triplets, and then limericks. The teacher had clearly…

Describes a successful unit of study on poetry in a fifth grade class that ended with students each writing a sonnet as a final project. (SR)

Describes a multicultural unit for fifth graders in which each students receives a prop, develops a character around it, and writes a sketch which is videotaped and critiqued. Describes how students' characters identify their differences and figure out how to get along. Notes that students' ongoing relationships with eighth-grade penpals provided…

Describes an experiential learning activity in which a Connecticut fifth grade class designated a new holiday, Friendship Day, through an essay-writing contest. The class pursued legalizing the holiday through the state legislative process, and Friendship Day is now celebrated on the fourth Sunday in April in Connecticut. Shows how the class…