This book outlines the processes involved when children learn to write, and it shows how certain strategies can improve children's progress in writing. Dealing with the age range 3-13, the book addresses issues of the gender gap, children with English as an additional language, and left-handedness. It includes ideas for assessment of writing. It…

This Spanish language edition of "Learning To Read and Write: Developmentally Appropriate Practices for Young Children," presents effective research-based strategies for promoting children's literacy learning in preschool, kindergarten, and elementary classrooms and infant/toddler settings. Including classroom photos and children's work,…

This topical bibliography and commentary discusses several classroom techniques designed to encourage beginning writers to grow beyond uninspired composition. The strategies employed in the classroom are of equal value for both expository and creative writing. The various classroom techniques discussed share an emphasis on student-centered…

Compared 28- to 53-month-olds' writing and drawing. Scores on a writing scale composed of graphic, "writing-like," and symbolic schemes improved with age. Recognition of drawings as drawings preceded recognition of writings as writings. Writing and drawing scores were substantially correlated, even with age partialed out, suggesting that…

Advocates the use of story journals--written reactions to books that children have either read themselves or heard--in primary grades. Asserts that story and literary journals provide an excellent link between literature and writing. (MM)

Examines three Swedish research projects concerning how reading and writing are viewed in the preschool context. Finds that linguistic awareness is a precondition, stimulating linguistic awareness fosters literacy development, linguistic awareness activities are common in preschools, and attitudes have changed about when and how young children…

In this paper a relationship is established between writing and early literacy in young children. The age at which early literacy begins to develop in young children varies with each child. For many children, literacy begins to appear in activities such as pretend play, drawing, conversations about storybook plots, and conversations about words or…

Intended for teachers of 3- to 8-year-old children who want to extend their students' knowledge about the nature of reading and writing, this book discusses works of children's literature which show people (and sometimes not only people) engaging in literacy acts that are meaningful, interesting, and fun. The book examines the nature of these…

Study compares the vocabulary generated from writing samples of 52 first-grade children in two whole language classrooms with vocabulary contained in the basal reader program. Concludes that whole language instruction does not limit children's exposure to systematic repetition of important vocabulary. (MM)

To a young child just learning to read, the world of books and stories is like a big playground waiting to be explored. Children between the ages of four and six usually start to recognize some words on a page. There are many things parents can do to help their children grow as readers. Parents can support their child's reading by being patient,…

This report provides a summary of the preliminary investigations conducted by the Early Literacy Workgroup in Maine's schools, and is designed to serve the following purposes: articulate a set of interrelated, common characteristics of successful literacy programs; extend to schools an invitation to dialogue about effective literacy practices and…

A central theme in this book is that there are many paths to literacy. The materials in this guidebook are intended to encourage those involved in teaching reading and writing to engage in dialogue and reflection with colleagues, to know their students well, to examine their own experiences and beliefs, and to generate and seek answers to their…

Developed as a vehicle of communication for the Reading Recovery Council of North America, this journal represents an international effort to connect researchers, teachers, and all those interested in early literacy. Articles in the first issue of this fourth volume are: "The Development of Literate Potential in Literature-Based and…

In 1997, the Indiana Department of Education began implementing the Early Literacy Intervention Grant Program (ELIGP), designed to assist schools in their efforts to raise the reading proficiency of students most at risk for reading failures. This report summarizes a study of the impact of ELIGP on schools in the second year of funding, 1998-99.…

In this essay collection, scholars in the area of early literacy provide concrete strategies for achieving excellence in literacy instruction. The collection presents current, research-based information on the advances and refinements in the area of emerging literacy and the early stages of formal instruction in reading and writing. Following a…