"Content Area Literacy in Elem Grades" Response

     This article was very informative with the ideas about incorporating content area literacy instruction in the elementary grades.  The idea that students learn just from text books these days is totally false.  The times have changed and there are so many more technologies available and being used in schools today that students are becoming familiar with them earlier than in the past.  Elementary schools should provide a heavier emphasis on content literacy instruction earlier than fourth grade and not just for textbooks.  If students are not taught in their early years of school how to comprehend a variety of texts, how will they become independent readers in and outside of school?  Textbooks are not updated every year unlike magazines and newspaper articles, the material that is read from these are so different.  I liked the idea that informational texts motivated more children to read.  This is true because then students could be more interested in learning and reading.  If students were not provided with outside source reading materials in the classroom, wouldn't they be more sheltered in their knowledge and understanding of life?  This article really opened my eyes about text books in classrooms.  I never thought about students being restricted by reading textbooks until now.