The purpose of this article is to provide strategies that address three areas (creating a classroom library, incorporating environmental print, establishing writing activities) for beginning teachers for creating literacy-rich environments to support the academic and functional needs of young students with significant developmental disabilities…

A study examined topic selection and spelling development in kindergarten students' journal writing. Subjects, 19 kindergarten students enrolled in a middle-class school, were informally interviewed about their writing. The students' writing topics were categorized and their spelling analyzed. Results indicated that the children were able to…

The article describes the purposes of free-choice writing in a class of hearing impaired kindergarteners. Implications for writing instruction include the need for stressing writing as communication, planning activities based on student interest, and providing opportunities for students to explore and experiment. (CL)

Traces the development of a project that consisted of first graders developing a book. (DF)

Provides a framework for using journal writing in the primary grades to develop writing skills. Outlines techniques to help focus teacher observations, deepen insights, inform curricular decision making, and help teachers reflect upon the student's role in journal writing. (RS)

Focuses on the use of music as instructional material in early literacy instruction. Uses specific examples of music to highlight concepts of print, a sense of story and sequence, phonemic awareness and phonics, background knowledge and vocabulary, basic spelling patterns, and early writing activities. Concludes with an invitation for…

The traditional spelling curriculum emphasized that pupils learn to spell a specific set of words through memorization. However, major problems existed pertaining to using that method of teaching. Pupils soon forgot the correct spelling of memorized words. Educational psychologists have long advocated that pupils perceive knowledge as being…

The teacher of elementary level gifted students discusses successful creative writing activities. Among the reasons for students to learn writing early in the educational program are that written expression complements oral communication, heightens awareness of ordinary experiences, and helps students become more appreciative of language.…

Describes two writing activities for primary grade students to complete at home with the help of their parents. (MG)

Opportunities for and limits upon diary writing in one second/third-grade classroom are examined with the purpose of stimulating critical thinking about two issues: (1) the diary's potential within the school writing curriculum, and (2) the classroom as an environment for the teaching and learning of writing. Field notes, teacher journal entries,…

Awareness of language, of how it operates, its appropriateness of the pupils who are exposed to it, and its quality in the books which are provided for them, should be every teacher's concern when selecting books and initiating writing based on them. (Author)

Shares a literature, writing, and art activity which kindergarten students participated in to develop a sense of conservation concerning rain forests. (MG)

Offers guidelines on helping young children develop into independent writers. Explains what to expect at different stages, such as semiphonetic and phonetic stages, drawing as a prewriting activity, and writing and revising once drawing no longer dictates writing. Offers suggestions for providing an environment that supports the writing process.…

Helping first graders develop writing skills is the focus of this paper. The first part of the paper discusses 11 ideas likely to be crucial to any first grade writing program, such as the similarities between learning to talk and writing, and the teacher as the model writer. The second part of the paper outlines creative writing activities…

The writing activities in this book are designed to help children build writing skills through the communication of their own ideas, discoveries, and feelings. Developed and field tested as part of a basic skill development project, the book presents a rationale for primary children's writing, outlines the fundamentals of teaching writing, and…