Lesley Mandel Morrow

A Study of Effective First-Grade Literacy Instruction

Literacy instruction in first-grade classrooms in five U.S. locales was observed. Based on academic engagement and classroom literacy performances, the most-effective-for-locale and least-effective-for-locale teachers were selected. The teaching of the most-effective-for-locale teachers was then analyzed, including in relation to the teaching of the least-effective-for-locale teachers. The classrooms headed by most-effective-for-locale teachers were characterized by excellent classroom management based on positive reinforcement and cooperation; balanced teaching of skills, literature, and writing; scaffolding and matching of task demands to student competence; encouragement of student self-regulation; and strong cross-curricular connections. In general, these outcomes did not support any theory that emphasizes just one particular component (e.g., skills instruction, whole language emphasis) as the key to effective Grade 1 literacy; rather, excellent Grade 1 instruction involves multiple instructional components articulated with one another.

The Impact of a Literature-Based Program on Literacy Achievement, Use of Literature, and Attitudes of Children from Minority Backgrounds

A miniature type, rechargeable atomizing spray mechanism including a receptacle for the liquid to be atomized, and further including a cap and axially aligned first and second pressure chambers, one of which depends within the receptacle while the other projects above the cap. A reciprocable spray head is arranged to cooperate with plural pistons, one each of which are slidably arranged in said first and second pressure chambers. Upper and lower valve members are available to control the emission of spray. The upper valve is maintained closed by a spring element, and the lower valve is opened by reciprocation of the spray head to permit withdrawal of the liquid from the container so that it may pass through a bore provided between the plural pistons and be emitted as a spray from the spray head.

Retelling Stories: A Strategy for Improving Young Children's Comprehension, Concept of Story Structure, and Oral Language Complexity

The Elementary School Journal Volume 85, Number 5 ? 1985 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. 0013-5984/85/8505-0006

Young Children's Responses to One-to-One Story Readings in School Settings.

01.00 Educators recognize that young children who have stories read to them develop more sophisticated language structures, accumulate more background information, and have more interest in learning to read (Bower 1976; Chomsky 1972; Cohen 1968; Durkin 1966). In addition, active participation in literary experiences enhances the development of comprehension, oral language, and a sense of story structure (Blank & Sheldon 1971; Bower 1976). For example, Browns research (1975) suggests that childrens story comprehension is facilitated when they are involved actively in the reconstruction of a story. She defines reconstruction as childrens thinking about the individual story events and arranging pictures of the story in sequential order. By mentally reconstructing the events themselves and arranging pictures, children build an internal representation of the story. In another study, Pellegrini and Galda tested the effects of varying modes of active involvement in story reconstruction on comprehension. Role playing significantly improved comprehension of story and story retelling ability. According to Pellegrini and Galda, when role playing stories, active involvement and peer interaction contributed to the childrens increased performance.

Home and School Correlates of Early Interest in Literature

CASE STUDY and correlational research has indicated that frequent exposure to story readings has positive effects on some aspects of early literacy. Much of the work on storybook readings has focused upon the interactive behavior between parent and child during one-to-one readings in middle-class homes. This study was designed to investigate whether frequent one-toone readings in a school setting would increase the number and complexity of comments and questions from children of low socioeconomic status (SES). The 79 subjects, who were lowSES four-year-olds in three urban day-care centers, were assigned to two experimental groups and one control group. Students in the first experimental group were read a different book each week for 10 weeks. Those in the second experimental group heard repeated readings of three different books. In both groups, interactive behavior between adult and child was encouraged during story readings. The control group was guided through traditional reading readiness activities. The author found that one-to-one story readings did increase the number and complexity of questions and comments made by children in both experimental groups. Repeated readings were found to result in more interpretive responses and more responses focusing on print and story structure, and were most effective with children of low ability.

Preparing the Classroom Environment to Promote Literacy during Play.

AbstractA composite measure was developed to identify kindergarten children from 21 classrooms who had a high or low interest in literature. Parent questionnaires, teacher evaluations, and tests provided information concern- ing children’s free-time home activities, parents’ characteristics and activities, school achievement, and the quality of the in-classroom literary environment. Significant differences were found between the high- and low-interest groups in most areas. High-interest children were read to more often than low-interest children, watched less television, and had more children’s books placed in many rooms at home. Parents and teachers of the high-interest children provided supportive literary environments at home and in school, whereas those in the low-interest group did not. The results are compared to investigations of early readers and older voluntary readers.

A Family Literacy Program Connecting School and Home: Effects on Attitude, Motivation, and Literacy Achievement.

The purpose of this study was to determine if the voluntary literacy behaviors of children could be increased in type and quantity through design changes by including reading and writing materials in dramatic play areas. Thirteen preschool classes were distributed into one control group and three different experimental groups: one in which thematic play with literacy materials was guided by teachers, one in which thematic play with literacy materials was not guided by teachers, and one in which books, pencils and papers were supplied in unthemed dramatic play areas with teacher guidance. The type and quantity of literacy behaviors in each of the three experimental settings were determined by direct observation prior to intervention, during intervention, and after a delayed period of time. Literacy behaviors increased significantly in all the experimental groups over the control group. Thematic play with teacher guidance yielded greatest gains; the provision of books, pencils and paper with teacher guidance yielded the next greatest gains; and thematic play without teacher guidance yielded third greatest gains. The effect of the treatments continued after a delayed period of time.

The Effects of Group Size on Interactive Storybook Reading.

This study connected home and school literacy contexts by involving parents in developmentally appropriate and culturally sensitive literacy activities with their children. The purpose of the program was to enhance childrens achievement and interest in literacy. The family program was similar to a literature-based school program that included classroom literacy centers, teacher-modeled literature activities, and literacy center time. Meetings were held monthly, with parents, teachers, and children all working together. The program was in an inner-city school district including African American and Latino families. There were 56 children in 1st through 3rd grades (28 in the experimental group and 28 in the control). Pre- and posttest data determined achievement and motivation differences favoring the children in the family program.

Teaching Children to Become Fluent and Automatic Readers.

THE AUTHORS investigated childrens comprehension of stories and their verbal interactions during storybook readings in groups of varying sizes. Adults read storybooks to 27 kindergarten and first-grade children from five U.S. school districts. Each child heard three stories read in each of three settings: one-to-one, small-group (3 children per group), and wholeclass (15 children or more). Measures were taken on only the third reading in each setting. On probed and free recall comprehension tests, children who heard stories in the small-group setting performed significantly better than children who heard stories read one-to-one, who in turn performed significantly better than children who heard stories read to the whole class. In addition, as expected, children who heard stories read in a small group or one-to-one generated significantly more comments and questions than children in the whole-class setting. Thus, reading to children in small groups appears to offer as much interaction as one-toone readings, and (surprisingly) appears to lead to greater comprehension than whole-class or even one-to-one readings.

EFFECTS OF STRUCTURAL GUIDANCE IN STORY RETELLING ON CHILDREN'S DICTATION OF ORIGINAL STORIES

The purpose of the study was to examine the effects of two instructional approaches designed to improve the reading fluency of 2nd-grade children. The first approach was based on Stahl and Heubachs (2005) fluency-oriented reading instruction (FORI) and involved the scaffolded, repeated reading of grade-level texts over the course of each week. The second was a wide-reading approach that also involved scaffolded instruction, but that incorporated the reading of 3 different grade-level texts each week and provided significantly less opportunity for repetition. By the end of the school year, FORI and wide-reading approaches showed similar benefits for standardized measures of word reading efficiency and reading comprehension skills compared to control approaches, although the benefits of the wide-reading approach emerged earlier and included oral text reading fluency skill. Thus, we conclude that fluency instruction that emphasizes extensive oral reading of grade-level text using scaffolded approaches is effective for promoting reading development in young learners.