This book offers 60 stimulating, classroom-tested activities to instill a love of literature and help young learners develop as readers, writers, and speakers. By using picture books, novels, or even nonfiction readings as starting points, the reproducible worksheets in the book can be implemented to strengthen students' entire spectrum of…

This digest discusses the problem of overrepresentation of children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds in special education and provides examples of strategies created by researchers and practitioners to reduce overrepresentation. Strategies include: (1) promote family involvement and respect diverse backgrounds by taking time…

There are many things parents and caregivers can do to help build a child's literacy skills from the time the child is born until the child is old enough for school. This 24-minute videotape, hosted by Jamie Lee Curtis and LeVar Burton, provides helpful information on how to foster a young child's language and literacy development beginning at…

This report, the second in the National Center for Early Development & Learning's (NCEDL) "Spotlight" series, is based on a summary of longitudinal results through kindergarten from the "Cost, Quality and Outcomes Study" by NCEDL. The study involved child care centers in four states and was conducted from 1993 to 1996.…

The author of this article describes the various aspects of her job as the Modern Language Tutor Coordinator at Santa Monica College. The author writes that, in general, her days consist of wearing a number of different hats each day, including that of budget and payroll administrator, grant writer, tutor screener, tutor trainer, tutor employer,…

This book, one of four in the Teaching Reading Collection, presents the "best of the best" classroom-tested ideas, approaches, and practical applications for helping students learn about words. The articles have been drawn from the journal "The Reading Teacher" from 1993-1999. The ideas and strategies are intended to provide possible building…

The document presents the proceedings of a meeting convened to design a strategic plan for international education to be adopted by Pima Community College (PCC) (Arizona). The meeting's main objective was to position the college strategically in the international education marketplace and to define the term "international education" as…

The Texas Reading Initiative began in 1996 in response to Governor George W. Bush's challenge to all Texans to focus on the most basic of educational goals--teaching all children to read. This booklet describes important aspects of effective reading instruction, as well as elements of classroom and campus support for effective instruction. The…

This guide to Indiana's academic standards in language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies for kindergarten students begins with a note to students and another to parents. The guide spells out what students should know and be able to do in each subject, at each grade level. It helps students understand what is required to meet the…

This manual contains information regarding the administration of the Oregon Statewide Assessment Program's tests in writing and mathematics problem-solving. Parts of the manual address (1) background and preparation for testing; (2) administering the writing assessment; (3) administering the mathematics problem-solving assessment; (4) local rater…

Designed to grow into a 2-inch three-ring binder, this handbook is part of a series for teachers of grades 6-8 language arts. The handbook aims to clarify some points, to provide a framework for new teachers and to give veteran teachers some new ideas. Volume I contains activities to use in the classroom, and Volume II is "all about…

Massachusetts has a comprehensive system of early care and education that provides preschool programs for over 165,000 children, an estimated 27,600 of which attend preschool programs administered by public school systems. The second phase of the Massachusetts Cost and Quality Study examined 95 school-based, publicly administered preschool…

Based on an 18th century poem (actually, a song originally) about the Boston Tea Party, this lesson plan presents activities designed to help students understand that taxation of the American colonists by the British led to the American Revolution; all eras have protest poetry or songs; and students can perform and analyze old literature. The main…

Based on William Golding's novel "Lord of the Flies," this lesson plan presents activities designed to help students understand that, on a literal level, the novel deals with what happens to a group of boys stranded on an island; and that on a symbolic level, it investigates what happens to civilized people when the structures of civilization…

This teaching unit is a literature unit that can be used in social studies to study the westward movement of the United States. The unit identifies educational objectives and lists read alouds (fiction and nonfiction). The series is based on the Laura Ingalls Wilder novels for young people and Wilder's own life experiences. The unit presents…