Designed for teachers in the primary grades, this book provides a number of units outlining possible instructional strategies for teaching folk literature. The book's aim is to help children personally connect with literature so they will continue to love reading throughout their lives. The first chapter offers background on the world of folk…

To test Bettelheim's claim that picturebook illustrations adversely affect children's imagination, this study examined effects of an adult's storytelling versus picturebook reading on the creativity of 11 preschool children. Initially, a total of 292 interviews were held with 30 children; the reduced final sample was composed of children with high…

A three-stage lesson sequence that used story grammars to teach plot development has been proved successful with a group of eight above average third grade students reading Deborah and James Howe's "Bunnicula." The first stage was a training unit designed to familiarize children with a typical story grammar's parts: a theme and plot…

Presented are ideas for learning activities that use books and stories to teach language arts, art, cooking, movement, health, music, and math to kindergarten and primary school students. Activities are organized around such topics as quilts, apples, teeth, hands, feelings, heroes, letters, and such events as birthdays, Mother's and Father's Day,…

Suggestions are given on how to write stories for students, taking into consideration plot, vocabulary development, and interest levels. (JH)

WRITTEN FOR THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL LEVEL, A SERIES OF SIMPLE STORIES IS PRESENTED. THESE ARE INTENDED TO ILLUSTRATE CONCEPTS IN THE DEVELOPMENT AND MAINTENANCE OF THE PREJUDICIAL AND DISCRIMINATORY ATTITUDES OF OUR TIME. A SERIES OF LEARNING EXPERIENCES MAY BE DEVELOPED, USING THE STORIES AS A TOOL. THE FOLLOWING HEADINGS ARE GIVEN--"SCHOOL…

The hypothesis that high critical thinkers, who rely on plausibility estimates, would be more accurate in rejecting inappropriate inferences than low critical thinkers, who rely on direct matching, was investigated. The supposition that high critical thinkers would suffer more often from a failure to differentiate appropriate inferences from…

This investigation probed whether the reading acheivement of second-grade children would be increased significantly by the addition of a quality literature program of tri-weekly oral reading experiences provided by elementary education majors. Twelve intact and heterogeneously grouped second-grade classes participated in the study. Twelve…

Reading instruction, centered around the oral reading of literature, allows children to enjoy stories and forget that they are engaged in an academic exercise.

The sex of the main character was varied in six children's stories, which were then read by fourth, sixth, and eighth graders. The children answered four questions about the stories. Boys preferred stories about males. A preference for stories about females was marginally significant only for the older girls. (Author)

Discusses some of the common explanations for the effects of story reading at home upon children's later reading achievement, and offers an alternative explanation along with implications for classroom practices. (CM)

Describes how the story theatre technique was used in a class of Canadian vocational students with reading difficulties. (RL)

This article points out the importance of pleasure and enjoyment in increasing children's motivation to read and offers suggestions on books that are interesting and exciting and also well written and fine literature. (JD)

Respectively, three experiments indicate that (1) people can identify all the terminal units in stories as well as different kinds of episodic structure; (2) when attention was focused on the intermediate units, the Goal Path emerged in the judgments; and (3) the same judgments about terminal units were made even when the number of sentences per…