Describes how the parents of the author's fifth-grade students joined the literature circles in her classroom--either in person, through writing, or through recorded conversations. Notes that the literature discussions became richer and more sophisticated as families added layers of meaning to the context built in class. (SR)

States that parent involvement appears to hold great potential for the improvement of literacy education. Interviews over 60 teachers about their attitudes toward parent involvement in reading. Indicates that teacher perceptions of what constitutes parent involvement differed by grade level, and teacher perceptions of parent role appeared to…

Fifth- and sixth-grade aggressive and acting-out students from a Latino community were organized into two groups based on their classroom academic performance. Students who were rated as aggressive but were high on school learning reported more resiliency indicators than those low on school learning. Parental supervision was the key variable…

The process that occurs in relationships between volunteer adult mentors and pregnant adolescent "mentees" is described empirically; testable hypotheses based on findings concerning the mentor role are proposed. Case records from 20 mentors are analyzed; findings regarding mentors' roles are discussed. Criteria for conceptualizing quasi-parenting…

Forty-five Australian families with children with Down syndrome and 88 comparison families provided information about their children's behavior problems and involvement in household tasks. For the brothers of children with Down syndrome, significant negative correlations between household tasks and behavior problems were found on fathers' reports.…

Explored how mothers convey information about category structure during naturalistic interactions. Videotaped reading-aloud sessions between mothers and toddlers; coded their interactions for explicit and implicit discussion of animal and artifact categories. Found that mothers provided a rich array of information beyond simple labeling routines,…

Examined the relationship between mother's history of depression when their children were 0-3 years old and the child's subsequent early school adaptation, using teacher ratings of problem behaviors, peer relations, and academic performance of 5- to 8-year-olds. Found that maternal depression was related to more adjustment and behavior problems,…

Explores the use of music in programs for young children and lists characteristics that early childhood music educators should exhibit. Addresses formal training in early childhood music. Highlights other teacher training approaches to enrich the music experiences of young children. (CMK)

Examines the role of films as an instructional aid in class activities devoted to learning a foreign language as well as one's native tongue with the support of modern technology. One of the primary ways of using film to encourage learning is to interest the students in criticizing the film and then to expose them to published criticism of the…

Describes the nature and consistency differences in mother-infant interaction affected by sex of infant, and reviews past interpretations. Offers an alternative interpretation, drawing on evidence from animal studies, studies of pregnant women, and work by epidemiologists and ethologists on sex ratio data that suggests mothers of male infants may…

Examined the parenting practices in 99 young, low-income, African American multigenerational families through home-based observations of grandmothers, young mothers, and the mothers' 3-year-old children. Residence with grandmothers was found to have negative consequences on the quality of both mothers' and grandmothers' parenting. (MDM)

An examination of 241 newspaper articles with titles that mentioned females or their issues revealed about a 50% rate of negativity toward women, and clusters covering eight themes, including image, women in "a man's world," violence, accomplishments, jobs, education, feminism, and health. Highlights constructive approaches that…

Presents case studies on children's exposure to pesticides, including risks through the use of the insecticide aldicarb on bananas, the home use of diazinon, and the use of interior house paint containing mercury. These cases illustrate how regulatory agencies, parents, health-care providers, and others who come into contact with children have…

Studied talk in early childhood contexts and the formative influences of adults' gendered language interaction. The types of discourse studied include children's conversations during pretend play construction and role play, parent and child reports of past speech, parent and child reminiscences of past events, and children's persuasive…

Presents a longitudinal examination of children as they reminisce with their mothers and fathers. The investigation regards differences between mothers and fathers in the way they continue to structure conversations with their children about the past. The article also explores bidirectional influences operating in these conversations. (30…