Highlights the teacher's critical role in spelling instruction and provides examples of how to support spelling development in classrooms. Argues that educators need to look closely at children's emerging capacities as writers, focusing especially on the issue of invented spelling, and its use and misuse in classroom practices. (SG)

Describes how elementary teachers can get good results using invented spelling in the classroom. The article presents the history of invented spelling and whole-language learning, then explains how to use core word lists, avoid sloppy drafts, conduct conferences, teach spelling effectively, and create a balance between writing and spelling. (SM)

The use of invented spelling in educational programs for students with deafness is described. Students use a variety of spelling strategies, such as visual, kinesthetic, sounding out, handshape in sign language, and functional spellings. Methods of encouraging risk taking in spelling are discussed, and the changing use of spelling tests is noted.…

This book offers pre-school teachers, kindergarten teachers, daycare workers, and parents ways to help young children begin to read and write, by placing stories at the very center of the early childhood curriculum. The book includes an in-depth discussion of the crucial pedagogical and developmental roles that stories can play in early childhood…

Teachers need to stay abreast of the latest trends in the language arts to offer an updated curriculum. The language arts areas are vital in each academic discipline and integrate well with diverse subject matter areas. Some common trends when reading the literature on teaching the language arts are: portfolios; journaling; computerized reading…

Examines eight methods that teachers can use to help students with learning problems deal with spelling obstacles: collaboration, precueing, word books, asking the teacher, invented spelling, peer collaboration, self-checking, and computer-assisted writing. Methods are evaluated on how they improve the content and readability of the composition.…

Reading aloud to children is the most important step towards making a child a reader. It exposes them to print and excites their curiosity through intriguing story lines. Parents play an enormous role in this aspect of reading development, because it begins long before a child is in school. In the beginning of school, teachers spend time assessing…

This book describes the special way one teacher, Jeanette Amidon, approaches children's thinking, with a particular focus on reading and writing instruction. The root value of her first-grade classroom in Massachusetts is respect for children's ideas, with the children's art and writing as visible signs of the teacher's respect for their thinking.…

Teachers are faced with the effects of the fragmentation of the family structure and an increasing number of children who are neglected, misbehave, and have trouble with learning. This book offers a solution to teachers in a system bound by legal educational requirements based on the various labels given children in schools today. The book is…

This nontechnical guide for parents and teachers examines learning to read from infants' babbling to the fluent reading of children reading independently for pleasure. Chapter 1, "Baby Speaks," describes language development in infancy. Chapter 2, "Our Alphabet: Language by Ear and by Eye," presents the alphabetic system and…