In a qualitative, multiple case study, we explored the challenges and successes teachers encounter while participating in a professional development program aimed at improving their reading comprehension instruction so as to increase students' self-regulated use of comprehension strategies. We documented five fifth grade teachers' experiences as…

This document describes a series of activities to teach 30 fifth grade students about history through fiction. Activities began with a prereading brainstorming session in which students came up with topics that they studied during the school year. Next, the school librarian introduced the children to the genre of historical fiction and instructed…

This research, proposing that the teacher is the pivotal component between the student receiving a mediocre science education or a dynamic science education, was designed to observe and to analyze the science teaching strategies and methods of recognized, exemplary, fifth-grade teachers. Six teachers from six different public schools in two…

Magnificent Mum Education Program is a theme-based program developed around the garden mum. With its bright colors, various flower forms, perennial life cycle, and easy propagation, the garden mum is ideal for classroom use and community planting programs. The mum-theme lessons can be integrated into all subject areas including science, math,…

This activity guide, developed to provide hands-on environmental education activities geared towards the Falls Lake State Recreation Area in North Carolina, is targeted for grades 3, 4, and 5 and meets curriculum objectives of the standard course of study established by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. Three types of activities…

The primary purpose of this book is to help teachers develop new insight into the learner's experience of science learning in school settings. The book focuses on the personal experience of the learner, taking the position that learning must be understood not only as a cognitive experience but also as an emotional, personal, social, and cultural…

Grounded in a communication theory that assumes that the form of communication affects the content of the knowledge that a teacher conveys to his or her students, a study attempted to determine how violence is treated in the classroom. The site for the study was Darbin Elementary School, in a suburb of San Francisco. The method was observation,…

A study examined the effects of instruction versus no instruction of comprehension monitoring strategies and the effects of direct instruction of a written or checksheet comprehension monitoring strategy on the metacognitive awareness and reading achievement of students. Subjects, 57 fifth-grade and 51 third-grade students from 6 intact classrooms…

This collection is the result of a program in self expression in which 30 fifth-grade students contemplated to music every other day throughout the school year--each child completed approximately 120 thinking or contemplation periods. The procedure used in the program operated in the following way: (1) 5 to 15 minutes of music played while the…

The Ohio Off-Grade Proficiency Tests help in monitoring students' progress toward Ohio's adapted model courses of study in reading, mathematics, citizenship, science, and writing. The purpose of this study was to provide item response theory (IRT) parameter estimates and descriptive statistics of the scoring categories of the short-response items…

This practicum was designed to increase the involvement of parents in the music education of fourth and fifth grade students. A delivery system was developed to provide parents with activities, resources, and materials relating to the student's music education. Parents received the materials at no cost. The author developed a brochure and monthly…

A practicum was developed to improve the inferential comprehension, the textual and functional skills, and the overall attitudes toward reading of fifth-grade students. A target group of six students in a private school who were deficient in these skills was established. The practicum contained basic strategies for improving reading skills and…

A case study examined one fifth-grade student's developing response as he participated in a literature-based reading program. The student's response to text over time was traced via observations of the student, interviews, field notes, and written documents he created. Analysis, ongoing during and after the data collection, focused on three…

Fourth-grade students in one elementary school were administered a listening inventory, the Listening Composite section of the Test of Language Development-Intermediate, and a questionnaire "Are You a Good Listener" to assess their listening skills. The results showed that students lacked listening skills and did not have adequate…

An alcohol misuse prevention study (AMPS) curriculum was developed, implemented, and evaluated with over 5,000 fifth and sixth grade students. The AMPS program, emphasizing peer resistance skills, focused on the immediate effects of alcohol, risks of alcohol misuse, and social pressures to misuse alcohol. Schools were randomly assigned to…