Discusses children's interest in names, and the importance of this interest for their developing literacy. (MM)

Discusses the developmental writing behaviors of children in a print rich environment. Suggests ways to encourage the writing process in beginning writers, and urges teachers to learn more about the concept of invented spelling. (MM)

Finds that lower-level developmental variables are related to beginning writing skills. Identifies an orthographic-linguistic dimension and an automaticity dimension in the battery of developmental skills and writing products. (RS)

The Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) has administered the Early Literacy Intervention Grant Program (ELIGP) since 1997. During the first 3 years of the program, about half of the state's elementary schools received funding through ELIGP, either through Reading Recovery or Other Early Literacy Interventions (OELI). This report summarizes the…

Primary-grade children can learn rhythm and rhyme from nursery rhymes. But those same poems can be used to help young students make connections to letters, sounds, and word chunks. This lesson lets Mother Goose help children grow as readers and writers. During the 5-10 minutes per day for these lessons, students will: develop a feel for the rhythm…

Offers some suggestions for articulating curricular objectives and activities based on the theoretical principles underlying emergent literacy. Suggests readings for extending and strengthening the knowledge and understanding needed to foster young children's language and literacy. (MG)

Describes how sharing students' writing in small groups is a good alternative to sharing writing with the whole class. Provides "Author's Circle" guidelines to clarify group procedures. (MM)

Examined manuscript letter writing skills of students in Grades 1-3. Three letter characteristics, grade, and alphabet fluency each made a significant contribution to the prediction of letter legibility after effects of other predictors were controlled. Letter legibility in turn made a significant contribution to the prediction of text legibility…

Much research has been done in the area of storytelling with young children. Storytelling, as the author speaks of it, means a specific time set aside for the oral composing of texts. For the tellers, it is a chance to think through, discover, plan, and develop the story that they may, eventually, decide to write, alongside a supportive teacher…

"Ready, Set, Leap!"[R] is a preschool curriculum that focuses on early reading skills, such as phonemic awareness, letter knowledge, and letter-sound correspondence, using multisensory technology that incorporates touch, sight, and sound. Teachers may adopt either a theme-based or a literature-based teaching approach, and for each…

Describes a rationale and activities for using journals in the preschool setting to bring the school and home environments together and to acquaint children with the writing process. (HTH)

Discusses strategies and activities that a teacher can use to help a young writer become a fluent writer. Suggests that it is essential for teachers to provide an abundance of opportunities for children to write. (RS)

Stresses the importance of using imagery when having beginning writers write poetry. Discusses additional techniques of stressing the unusual, continuation words, the five senses, and repetition of a word or phrase. (MG)

Describes and evaluates the Test of Early Written Language (TEWL), an instrument resulting in percentile or standard scores that reflect children's writing development at ages three to seven. Warns that it fails to tap important concepts at the lower age ranges, and violates several principles of children's authentic writing experiences. (MM)

Determines the effects of training of phonological abilities upon the acquisition of reading and writing during the first year of primary school. Finds significant effects on both reading and writing measures for the groups trained on phonological activities using manipulative materials. Discusses theoretical and educational implications. (RS)