Elementary school classrooms and preservice teachers rarely perceive math as a form of communication or as a foundation for community. Instead, it often takes the shape of numbered problems with very specific answers compiled into textbooks and worksheets. In an effort to make connections between literacy and mathematics for preservice teachers,…

Suggests ways of developing student skills in writing letters of request. (RL)

Describes an approach to the teaching of literature which involves writing letters to authors, encouraging book sharing, and reading along with students. (DD)

A humorous presentation of publisher-to-author correspondence that indicates how contemporary publishers might criticize or reject such works as "Treasure Island,""The Tale of Peter Rabbit,""Little Women," and the Grimm brothers' fairy tales. (ET)

Presents excerpts of letters written by children to their favorite children's authors, discussing how the letter writing experience parallels authors' experiences. Also presents responses from some of the authors. (HTH)

Analyzes writing samples of a child's letters to her aunt over a period of a year and a half to show how writing and reading influence each other. (SR)

Describes a project in which preservice teachers and sixth grade students exchanged correspondence. Notes that the preservice teachers learned important things about the writing of sixth graders. Finds that the students' abilities in letter writing developed without direct instruction. (RS)

Examines the writing of sixth graders to explore the issue of writing competence. Discusses how form allows young writers to achieve control over a writing task. (MS)

Discusses a dialogue journal exchange in English with Zulu students in South Africa. Demonstrates that successful interaction and communication is based on shared interest and genuine concern for the relationship. (MM)

Discusses (1) the practice of giving examinations and how this contradicts current theory about the writing process, (2) how students spontaneously became involved in reading and writing activities, and (3) the implications of not teaching traditional grammar. (SRT)

Examines the ways teachers-to-be sought to position themselves and children within power-knowledge relationships in the context of the pen pal letters, and the difference such positionings made for the child writers and the preservice teachers. Explores the parallels between the ways preservice teachers took up particular modes of address and the…

Focuses on letter writing as a way of evaluating children's growth as responders to fiction. Points out that not all children will enter into letter writing with equal success but concludes that it is a potentially powerful tool for teaching and learning. (MG)

Analyzes the value of "time on the carpet" by examining how a class of first and second graders negotiate and construct meanings of letters from penpals (university preservice teacher candidates) during whole-class sharing time. Describes two functions of these meetings: sociocognitive re/construction and enculturation of textural norms…

Looks into the functions of children's writing to determine what children can meaningfully write about. Discusses research on the functions of writing and then suggests assignments where children write letters to different audiences, such as to themselves and to their future children. These assignments help children learn about themselves. (SKC)