Describes a literature course organized around the themes of home and family that are meaningful to freshmen and sophomores, which demonstrates that good writers draw their characters and formulate their conflicts from universal human experiences and concerns. (MKM)

Discusses the nature of urban history, general guides to Canadian urban history, teaching aids, the urban "biography," and thematic approaches such as economic growth and metropolitan development, urban population, and urban government and politics. (KC)

Examines popular trend toward adult-initiated themes within the context of traditionally valued elements of early childhood curriculum, and compares the approach to child-initiated curriculum. Describes characteristics, examples, and potential outcomes of the content and processes evident in child-initiated curriculum from findings of an…

Recounts the journey of three literacy teachers learning about classroom use of computers and developing a computer-driven unit on Australian animals. Describes the learning process--the teachers wanted their students to have positive experiences with computers. States that, as a result of the experience, an interactive unit was developed that…

Introduces the "Pet and Me" project, a thematic unit that explores the relationships among humans, other animals, and nature. Provides the definition of thematic units by focusing on three levels of thinking: facts and information, topics, and themes. Concludes that the thematic unit is applicable to other areas of curriculum. (MOK)

Describes a two-tiered model for integrating middle school curriculum. In the parallel model, content area instructors teach individual content separately, integrating subject matter whenever logical connections occur between disciplines. In the integrated thematic model, thematic units allow deliberate, in-depth integration. Combining these…

Presents a cross-curricular theme unit on colors that includes a pullout poster and a resource list. Social studies activities highlight flags of the world. Science activities teach about colors of animals and the science of color. Language arts activities describe colorful language. Mathematics activities involve sorting and graphing colors. (SM)

Focuses on the issue of interdisciplinary curriculum, discussing the differences between integrated and interdisciplinary, essential terminology, disciplines of knowledge, levels of curriculum integration, and benefits of interdisciplinary curriculum. Introduces this special issue of "Music Educators Journal." (CMK)

Discusses the use of mini-lessons within thematic units as forums for language learning and content development for intermediate grade students with hearing impairments. A project to enhance the language arts curriculum at the Nebraska School for the Deaf uses the whole language mini-lessons to work on skill development, clarify misunderstandings,…

Reflects on the study of literary themes in a reform to develop "thinking based curricula" for lower income urban youth. Mentions the need to broaden students' worlds and discusses implications for middle grades teacher education. Suggests the need for preservice teachers to have plenty of ongoing workshop practice in shaping and critiquing…

Suggests that one way for English teachers to have students explore relationships between literature and science is to have them read and write about fiction with scientific themes. Outlines units that create chances for students to bring together the literary arts and the sciences into one classroom. (MG)

This paper outlines the development of the topic approach to learning in Great Britain and the tradition of objectives-based teaching; presents integrated schemes of work which merge the two approaches for students with severe learning difficulties; and presents an example, using the topic of the school garden. (JDD)

A Washington State first-grade teacher and her students created the Learning-Centered Curriculum-Making Project, developing each unit over a two-week period and highlighting language and thinking skills related to various subject disciplines. They used dialog, coaching, modeling, questioning, and reinforcing techniques. Students helped select…

A teacher at the Hawaii School for the Deaf and Blind recounts his experience implementing a whole-language approach with an elementary class of students with hearing impairments. The effort, focusing on insects, utilized dialog journals, word banks, shared reading, guided reading and writing, independent reading, and theme activities. A…

Discusses the differences between theme units and theme immersion (TI). Unlike traditional, predetermined theme units, TI has teachers and their students jointly plan the investigation of a topic or question, using student-centered lines of inquiry and methodology. Also discusses several resources that teachers can use to learn more about TI. (MDM)