Current standards push for elementary students to have text-based and text-centric discussions of what they read. This study explored what bilingual third-grade students talked about during small-group text-based discussions of informational texts. The author conducted a qualitative analysis of 10 video-recorded discussions, five of books matched…

Although scholars have long advocated the use of informational texts in the primary grades, gaps and inconsistencies in research have produced conflicting reports on how teachers used these texts in the primary curriculum, and how primary students dealt with them during instruction and on their own (e.g., Saul & Dieckman, 2005). Thus, to add…

Offers a list of more than 50 books, in picture book and board book format, that are best suited to the developmental needs and interests of infants and preschool children. Books are listed under the following headings: identification of objects, rhythm and rhyme, pattern and repetition, and contrast and opposition. (AEF)

It's not that boys can not read, they just do not read. Study after study reveals that boys read less than girls. And according to the U.S. Department of Education, school-age boys tend to read a grade and a half lower than girls. How can librarians get guys to turn the page? For starters, they need to move beyond their traditional "here is a book…

Provides guidelines for using action (pop-up) books of rhymes and tales to help children develop prereading skills and a sense of story structure. (AEW)

"Beit midrash" or "house of study" refers to a place where Jews, traditionally men, gather to study classical texts, often in pairs or "hevruta." In this "Beit midrash" for Teachers, the selection of texts, the language of instruction and the purposes of learning differ from those in a traditional "Beit midrash" where the study of Talmud is…

Noting that the ways children encounter and use print in the classroom can be examined as surface and organizing content of curriculum, this article provides descriptions of innovative uses of print in the kindergarten and elementary school classroom. Curriculum "surface content" includes activities, use of classroom space, display, and…

Presents effective methods for the discussion, sharpening, and enrichment of readers' responses. Includes methods to teach students how to choose a good book, an individualized and/or group reading and response program, and journal writing techniques. Provides a bibliography of Canadian children's literature for intermediate grades. (MM)