This full-color, kid-pleasing collection of language-arts activities is ideal for K-2 children of all ability levels--and for English language learners too. The practical and easy-to-implement lessons also are convenient for substitute teachers, classroom assistants, and volunteers. Flexible and versatile, these unique cards can be used for guided…

This digest discusses the need for differentiating language arts instruction for gifted students in grades K-8. It begins by describing differentiation approaches, including acceleration, depth, complexity, challenges, and creativity. It then explains how teachers can differentiate the language arts curriculum in the following five areas: (1)…

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…

This Ready--Set--Read Kit includes an activity guide for families, a 1997-98 early childhood activity calendar, and an early childhood growth wallchart. The activity guide presents activities and ideas that families (adults who have nurturing relationships with a child--a mother, father, grandparent, other relative, or close friend) can use to…

The Urban Sites Network of the National Writing Project was conceived, designed, and implemented as a national teacher inquiry network for urban sites of the National Writing Project. The goal of the Urban Sites Network has been to develop, articulate, and implement a new agenda for National Writing Project sites serving larger cities. Over the…

This report describes a program for instructing students in the writing process in order to improve their overall writing skills. The targeted population consisted of fourth and fifth grade students in a growing upper middle class community, located in northern Illinois. The writing problems of the students were documented through data revealing…

In this paper, the role of computers in writing process was investigated. Last 25 years of journals were searched to find related articles. Articles and books were classified under prewriting, composing, and revising and editing headings. The review results showed that computers can make writers' job easy in the writing process. In addition,…

Developed by national reading experts for the "America Reads Challenge: Read*Write*Now!" initiative, this booklet provides 45 ideas for families, teachers, librarians, and other learning partners to use with all children--including those with disabilities--to help them read well and independently by the end of third grade. The booklet…

When it comes to teaching students how to correct errors in mechanics and usage, English composition teachers have a problem in determining what and how to teach. An approach is developing overseas which comes from a type of linguistics called "functional," because it describes how languages work rather than only its forms. A branch that…

The first part of this paper details a study that examined differences between students who received course-based and non-course-based writing remediation. A total of 260 students at Southwest Texas State University who had received one or more semesters of course-based writing remediation or one or more semesters of non-course-based writing…

Until recently, the conventional wisdom about the conjunction of peer tutoring and writing in the disciplines was that a tutor unfamiliar with subject matter actually operated at an advantage. In spite of some of the theoretical advantages of ignorance, recent research suggests that it is difficult to ask probing questions and make useful…

A program at Viers Mill Elementary School (Silver Spring, Maryland) to develop the literacy skills of both English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) and native English students is described. The program uses a co-teaching model, in which classroom teachers and ESL teachers collaborate by providing readers' and writers' workshops. The workshops have been…

This book is about the teaching, instruction, and curricula required to give diverse learners a fighting chance in today's classroom as well as outside the classroom. Guidelines are offered for determining the curricular and instructional priorities in teaching diverse learners, who are typically behind their school-age peers in academic…

Despite educators' efforts to understand the process of composition, writing remains a mercurial process difficult to see or describe, even partially. Writing is a process even more difficult to grasp when the writer is possessed of a language--Chinese, for example--and must rely on that language to take possession of and write in a second…

In the past, students and teachers alike viewed reading and writing instruction as two separate entities. Reading and writing instruction was often characterized by linear and behaviorist theories and methods, with students rarely coming away from their schooling experience with confidence in and respect for their own writing. To both read and…