This report explains why reading story books to young children (an activity assumed to help in the acquisition of literacy, although there is no unambiguous evidence in support of this assumption) is likely to be important and reviews the evidence about the role it might play in literacy development. The first section of the report examines…

A practicum was conducted to improve the listening skills of a first grade class in a public elementary school in a mostly Hispanic residential community. A listening program was developed and implemented to increase listening skills. Storytelling was the main strategy used, and it was implemented daily. Other listening activities were also…

The comprehension of written stories starts with learning to comprehend everyday situations, but it is the child's direct experiences with written stories that bring the process to fruition. These direct experiences with stories are generally of two types. Initially there is a storybook time, the occasions upon which a literate person, usually the…

Intended for elementary school teachers and librarians, this book was designed to help in the development of reading programs for young children. Five sections are included: (1) planning ahead, which includes getting organized, making decorations, collecting "junque" (craft materials and other items needed for craft activities); (2) conducting…

Sixteen experienced teachers of reading, from a large, northeastern, American university, were asked how, in their elementary classrooms, they would approach the story of Cinderella. This was done in an attempt to find out what conception teachers might have about the way texts could themselves teach children to negotiate meaning, how teachers saw…

To determine whether repeated reading of stories in a developmental reading program would build fluency in slow readers, a study examined five students in the "low" reading group of a self-contained third grade classroom. During a 10-week period, students read a series of 10 stories from the basal reader "Widening Circles."…

Recent research suggests that an understanding of a simple children's story can demand sophisticated knowledge of concepts, social life, and literary forms. A well-written story for beginning readers will relate goal-directed event sequences in a coherent and relatively complete form, but understanding the story involves processes extending beyond…

Designed to assist students in math, language, and reading, the booklet illustrates five events that may occur at the Choctaw Fair, such as a princess pageant, dancing, riding a ferris wheel, eating hominy, and throwing rabbit sticks. A teacher's guide on the last page offers four suggested activities for preschoolers based on the booklet.…

This study was undertaken to: (1) develop a schema from an analysis of research information on child development from birth to three years of age with literature sharing implications for library programs; (2) query librarians in the United States who offer early childhood literature sharing programs about their program practices and attitudes via…

The experiences of one child's storytelling events over a period of nine months were tape recorded in a study that examined which variables were the most important in the child's learning of narrative. The variables considered took into account the impact of different storytellers, different story genres, different interactions (kinds of parental…

A parenting curriculum need not be confined to the high school's home economics or social studies departments. When students are made aware that books are written for children who cannot yet read, there is no problem eliciting justifications for a unit on children's literature in the high school English class, a unit that compares the…

This study indicates that the way in which stories are presented to children (verbal versus pictorial) makes little or no difference in the children's comprehension or recall of the stories. Ninety-six kindergarten and second grade children either looked at a series of pictures (and were told they formed a story) or listened to the story through a…

The purpose of this Child Development Associate (CDA) training module is to help the CDA intern learn to appreciate and share children's literature with preschool children. Objectives are stipulated, activities for each objective are suggested, and an assessment checklist is provided. Also included is a study guide, which outlines (1) the…

Research conducted to refine and perfect a theory and model of the reading process is presented in this report. Specifically, studies of the reading miscues of 96 students who were either speakers of English as a second language or of stable, rural dialects are detailed. Chapters deal with the following topics: methodology, the reading process,…

While the concept of parent involvement is stressed by almost all programs for preschool children, there is little evidence of parent-focused programs specifically designed to overcome the deficits of the lower class parent. It was the purpose of the present study to develop a program to enhance the functioning of the lower class mother in…