This document describes research which examined the principles of reward and punishment applied to certain types of behavior portrayed by characters illustrated in 30 school readers. It was hypothesized that certain portrayed values, which have political connotations, are being transmitted to young people through the indirect method of…

The manual contains over eighty career education lesson plans which are aimed at instilling readiness for decision making in first and fifth grade students. The lessons are intended to go beyond the provision of occupational information and to focus on teaching students how to gather, evaluate, and integrate information. Lesson plans are keyed to…

This guide was designed to help parents of preschool children utilize high quality children's literature to enhance communication between parents and children. The first section focuses on informal educational techniques parents can use with their preschool children. Specific topics examined include story reading and story telling, intellectual…

Describes a Story Reading Program and Shared Book Experience to improve the language and reading skills of multiply handicapped children. Concludes that the employment of multiple stimuli--large print, pictures, speech, and signs--in story reading activities increases children's attention skills, improves receptive and expressive language use, and…

Cites research supporting the theory that young children need several exposures to a story for complete understanding and reports on a study involving six rereadings of one book to a five year old over a two week period in an effort to guide "literary" development. (NH)

"Sort Stories: Leveled Reading Supplement to Words Their Way: Word Sorts for Letter Name-Alphabet Spellers" effectiveness was tested using five English language learner (ELL) students in the fifth and sixth grade. "Sort Stories" uses the word lists and accompanying clip-art from "Words Their Way" in developmental, grade-level specific, short read…

A study examined whether storybook exposure and the amount of teaching in reading and writing skills provided by parents would enhance the language skills and emergent literacy of 47 first-grade children. Hierarchical regression analyses that controlled for parents' print exposure, and children's age and analytical intelligence showed that at the…

This final performance report for Groton Public Library's Project LIFT (Libraries Involve Families Today), an outreach program designed to promote literacy among low-income families, begins with a section that provides quantitative data. The role of the library in the project is then described; participating organizations and sites used are…

Argues for developing a storytelling culture in early childhood programs to encourage staff enthusiasm and engagement. Describes five development strategies: (1) descriptive observation; (2) using children's books in staff meetings; (3) creating persona doll stories; (4) using stories from professional literature; and (5) creating visual stories…

Reports a study that examined the effects of combining home and classroom reading of multicultural storybooks on middle class Caucasian elementary students' awareness of and attitudes toward other cultures. Surveys of students who did and did not participate in story reading indicated positive gains for story participants and negative change in…

Reviews studies that were carried out with children to compare cognitive processing of audio and television stories, and describes a study conducted in the Netherlands where children aged 10-12 either watched a television film or read a print version of the same story and then retold the story in writing. (23 references) (LRW)

Twenty socioeconomically middle-class mother/toddler dyads (half White and half African American) were video recorded during joint book-reading activities. Unlike an earlier study, most book-reading behaviors were similar between the two groups, although the White group used significantly more labeling than the African-American group. Results…

The language and conversational skills of young children with delayed language development can be fostered by using specific strategies in small-group story reading, including praising children's talk, expanding children's words, asking open-ended questions, and pausing for children to initiate. Teachers are encouraged to train parents to use the…

The purpose of this study was to explore how parents and their young children attended to mathematical concepts as they engaged in shared book reading. Thirty-nine parents and their 4-year-old children from a culturally diverse metropolitan area were videotaped as they read "Mr. McMouse" (Lionni, 1992) and "Swimmy" (Lionni, 1963). Shared reading…

This paper is a report on a study of the practice of reading to young children in 1115 families in Greece. The outcome of the study shows that families from high socio-economic (HSES) backgrounds buy and read children's books to their preschoolers significantly more than families from low socio-economic (LSES) backgrounds do. HSES families use…