This paper outlines a sequence of strategies that are designed to enable every child to experience pleasure in reading narrative literature, and to achieve success in writing, both their own stories and the responses to literature expected by the school curriculum. To enable these goals, literary texts are analysed at three scales: whole literary…

Describes class activities for the primary grades based on Margaret W. Brown's book "The Important Book" which connects reading and writing. (SR)

Describes a classroom technique used to creatively involve first grade students in reading and writing through the use of classroom characters who talk to the class via a paper cartoon-type balloon attached to the characters picture. Provides examples of classroom characters and how they help children develop their writing skills. (MG)

Describes the whole language concept and its manifestations in teaching. Argues that whole language teaching can be seen as a political activity since it returns power to the children and the teacher. (EL)

Describes how the writing of a favorite author helped a child accomplish what she wanted in her own writing. Discusses the classroom environment that encouraged the child's writing. (HTH)

Describes the use of dialogue journals to integrate reading and writing in a mixed-grade, mixed-ability (1-3) classroom. Describes student responses (retellings, clarifications, personal subjective responses, and interpretive comments). Advocates that students write continually as they read through a text. Demonstrates that dialogue journals can…

Presents teacher-tested techniques for making phonics part of helping students learn to read. Suggestions include writing to read, working with storybook text, using techniques that utilize many senses, and making phonics only one part of a balanced reading program. Resources for obtaining phonics materials are included. (SM)

Presents guidelines used by a first-grade teacher to teach students to write fictional stories based on things they know and using children's literature as models. Describes the benefits of writing workshops and outlines a method for teaching techniques that professional writers use. (SM)

Describes a writing strategy that reflects the importance of writing for authentic purposes for real audiences. Discusses how cross-grade-level exchanges can support this approach. (MG)

The processes children use when learning to read and write seem mutually supportive, so the incorporation of writing prior to and in conjunction with reading seems advisable. Writing activities in the basal readers can be used instead of or along with parts of the core lesson, not just in the enrichment section. And by listening to a variety of…

Asserts that the language experience approach and invented spelling can be used to teach writing and reading in kindergarten. Notes that this approach takes advantage of children's enthusiasm for sharing stories, and individualizes literacy development. (MM)

Advocates the use of story journals--written reactions to books that children have either read themselves or heard--in primary grades. Asserts that story and literary journals provide an excellent link between literature and writing. (MM)

Intended for teachers, reading specialists, administrators, students in teacher education programs, and parents, this book contains descriptions of strategies for fostering emergent literacy and steps for carrying them out. An underlying theme is the merging of the art and the science of teaching. Chapters in the book begin with questions to focus…

A study determined whether kindergarten teachers encouraged invented writing experiences among children to prepare them for reading and how teachers implemented invented spelling experiences in the kindergarten program. Subjects, 314 kindergarten teachers (out of 600 randomly selected kindergarten teachers in Iowa), responded to a survey of their…

A study examined whether writing instruction focusing on organizational patterns has a significant effect on reading comprehension. Writing samples were obtained from 18 second graders, nine of whom received no instruction, while the other nine received instruction on the purpose and use of the topic sentence, adding details to the topic, and…