A study of acculturative stress in children who served as language brokers surveyed 36 bilingual Latino fifth graders from a Southern California elementary school. The least acculturated children reported higher frequencies of language brokering and greater discomfort in doing so. High levels of acculturative stress were associated with increased…

Examined how mathematical problems are articulated, i.e. identified and defined, in the context of a fifth-grade lesson on equivalent fractions. Notes that classroom discourse limited to serial tasks constrained students' opportunities to develop relational knowledge about the properties and principles of equivalent fractions. (38 references)…

A teacher-developed alternative assessment of reading comprehension was specifically designed for transitional English language learners. Use of the measure with 89 fifth-graders in their first year of English language instruction showed that the students could successfully engage with English texts and provided teachers with useful information to…

Discusses the importance of relating mathematics to students' everyday lives. Describes a journal-writing project developed in a 5th grade total-inclusion classroom and specifies the major features of the writing project, including the framework used to assess student learning. (KHR)

Describes a study conducted in a fifth- and sixth-grade classroom in Toronto that explored gender differences from two perspectives: student interaction patterns, and communication patterns. Examined interaction patterns of students' math and science learning in terms of taking turns, initiating conversation, and follow-up conversation; and…

Focuses on the importance of developing student listening skills. Describes a classroom project for fifth-grade students in which they created a music video, addressing the roles of the students and the teacher. Includes a section detailing the steps involved in completing this project. (CMK)

The traditional approach toward teaching spelling was compared with a copy, cover, and compare approach for 9 special education (learning-disabled) students in grades 4, 5, and 6. Spelling performance improved in the copy, cover, compare condition; and students preferred this approach. (SLD)

Examined strategy outcome perceptions of popular, average, neglected, and rejected third and fifth graders. Found that children's outcome expectations and strategy evaluations varied as a function of peer status, age, and gender. (RH)

A study of the writing processes of ten fifth-grade French immersion students examined 22 features of their writing in both English and French. Differences across languages occurred in eight features, and students displayed a wide range of writing process behaviors in both languages. (Author/MSE)

Examined effects of short-term memory, age, and reading ability on the instructional effectiveness of imagery during reading of sentences among fourth and sixth graders, half of whom were instructed to construct images representing sentence meanings. Half were uninstructed. Imagery instructions had a positive effect on learning efficiency among…

Finds that, among 134 rural fifth graders exposed to a 2-week environmental education program, hands-on classroom activities eliminated pretest racial differences in environmental attitudes, but a field trip did not. Suggests similarities in the negative environmental attitudes of rural and urban non-White populations. Contains 15 references. (SV)

Surveys of two second-grade and two fifth-grade classes (45 and 40 students, respectively) assessed effects on student attitudes of using the process approach to writing as the core of poetry instruction. The approach worked for both grades for poetry, but only for fifth graders for other creative writing forms. (TJH)

Examines students reported and demonstrated knowledge of three structural properties of text: topic relatedness, superordination, and cohesion. Reports students are only moderately knowledgeable about topic relatedness and superordination, and unknowledgeable about cohesion. (RS)

Describes a project in which fifth graders researched the history of their school, interviewed people associated with the school's history, and created a booklet of school memoirs. Discusses problems overcome in each phase of the project, and offers practical suggestions on class management and project supervision. (SV)

Investigates the discussions of fifth and sixth grade literature study groups led by teachers in training. Finds children of varying abilities participating in rich discussions of literature, articulating and changing their constructions of meaning, sharing personal stories triggered by the reading, hypothesizing and predicting, and evaluating the…