The Family Backpack Project provided 249 low-income, prekindergarten children and their families with opportunities to read and listen to audio recordings of 3 sets of books in their homes. Families received English or dual-language texts (English plus Spanish, Arabic, Kurdish, or Somali) matched to their home languages. Children and their…

Concludes that television cannot do the entire job of educating children. (JH)

Describes how students write, edit, illustrate, cover, and bind their own books in a project that involves parent volunteers and instructional aides. Benefits of the project are that students enrich their vocabulary, gain acquaintance with new terminology, and increase their appreciation of literature in all forms. (AEA)

Nonbilingual teachers of Spanish-speaking students can become more effective through cultural understanding and respect, learning to speak Spanish, team teaching, using bilingual teacher aides, involving parents, and peer teaching. (DD)

Laments the discrepancy between the process approach to reading and writing instruction advocated in research and the skills approach manifested in homework assignments. Decries the unsatisfactory role this kind of homework forces parents to assume. (HTH)