Chapter 6 - Widening Horizons In The Intermediate Grades

Reading Development | Reading Interests | Voluntary Reading | Intermediate Grades | Speaking + Listening | Creative Writing | Vocabulary | Word-Recognition | Study-Type | Meaning | Individual Differences | Reading Difficulties | Summary | Q +A

By the end of the third grade, children should have acquired sufficient basic reading skills to be reading widely and independently. But reading difficulties often begin to show up during the fourth grade. Children who have not acquired a real interest in reading, a desire to learn from books, a basic sight vocabulary, word-recognition skills, or techniques of reading for meaning, find themselves all at sea in the new subjects. They have to shift from the story type of reading to the study type of reading; the intermediate grades require special skills.

Beginning with the fourth grade, teachers usually expect pupils to read extensively—not just to read. If a child has not learned to read, he feels at a loss. Rather than admit his reading deficiency, he may try to distract the teacher's attention and that of his classmates. One boy, when he was called upon to read aloud, made up his own words if he couldn't figure out what the book said: "And then King Arthur . . . ran round and round the barn." The class laughed and the teacher told him to sit down. Baffled by the boy's behavior, the teacher sought the help of the school social worker. After visiting his home, the social worker understood better why he was behaving as he did. She helped the parents and the boy himself to understand his reading difficulty. Several months of teamwork on the part of the social worker, the teacher, the parents, and the boy improved his reading. One day he said with a grin, "I guess I'm not such a pain in the neck as I used to be."

Influences On Reading Development

Lack of suitable instruction in reading may also be a contributing cause of failure during these years. Reading instruction, which should be continuous throughout the school years, is often neglected after the primary grades. However, this fault is rapidly being corrected. Basal reader series are being used through the eighth grade, and intermediate and upper-grade teachers have become alert to the need for instruction in reading.

The characteristics that are common to children of this age have a bearing on their reading development. On the favorable side is increased maturity of eyes and brain. Eyes reach adult size and functioning by about ten years of age. This enables children to spend more time with books without suffering physical discomfort. Especially in brighter children, there is some evidence of a slight spurt in mental growth between the ages of eight and ten. During these years ability to see likenesses and differences undergoes rapid growth. This is an obvious aid to associating sounds and letters, and to distinguishing between words of similar form.

Children acquire a large amount of knowledge during these years. This increases their capacity for learning through reading. The more background they bring to a book, the more meaning they will get from it. The more meaning they get, the greater the rewards they find in reading. They become able to read increasingly complex content.

These should be years of rapid progress in reading-—expanding interests, more mature attitudes, a faster rate of silent reading, more accomplished skills, and more dependable habits.

With boys, progress in reading may be hampered in several ways. They are physically very active, and want to spend much time in sports. They tend to resist adult authority. Their unruliness in school, which reaches a peak at about nine or ten, does not endear them to the teacher. She may spend more class time disciplining them than teaching them. Parents, too, are likely to react to their rambunctious-ness with some degree of hostility. Since children of this age are not really as independent as they try to appear, they may feel rejected by their parents, whom they still need. This may produce emotional disturbances that further interfere with effective reading.

Girls of these ages are usually more successful than boys in reading and in most other school subjects. Some preadolescent boys may let their natural antagonism to girls carry over to their attitudes toward reading: "Reading is sissy," and therefore to be rejected.

Reading Interests

Despite these unfavorable conditions, preadolescence is usually the time when voluntary reading reaches a peak. Many children of this age still like animal stories; most of them especially enjoy adventure and mystery stories. Boys prefer sports stories, factual material on mechanics, scientific books that range all the way from prehistoric animals and earth changes to excursions into outer space and other futuristic ventures. Although some modern girls are more science-minded than those of a century ago, many still prefer fairy tales, poetry, and stories about girls of their own age living here and now or in other times and lands. In their reading autobiographies adolescents recall liking, at this stage, books about magic, humorous books, novels about treasure-hunting boys who are captured by pirates, biographies, books about "girls my age or older," modern fantasies, and books dealing with real people and families.

According to the findings of psychoanalysis, successful children's books are those that deal with universal daydreams such as the reversal of roles described in The Prince and the Pauper, the theme of loss and restoration as it is found in many fairy tales, the tale of the bad boy exemplified in Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, and the folk hero as he appears in pioneer stories about Davey Crockett and Daniel Boone.

Accent On Voluntary Reading

Ways of Encouraging Reading | Competing and Reinforcing Interests | Availability Of Books | Teachers' Methods | The Comic-Book Problem

Ways of Encouraging Reading

During the intermediate grades—four, five, and six—children should do a great deal of reading. Wide reading during these years builds vocabulary, develops fluency, and adds to the child's store of knowledge.

Parents can create a home atmosphere that is friendly to reading, and encourage the child's reading in many other ways. The custom of reading aloud should be continued or revived, if it has been permitted to lapse. For some families the television program "Reading Out Loud" may have served as a stimulus to this end. When there are children of different ages to be read to, a book aimed at the middle child will usually interest both the younger and the older ones. Since some of us are not such skillful readers as we'd like to be, we can sometimes make use of the available recordings of such children's classics as Pinocchio, Alice in Wonderland, and Treasure Island. Your library may have a number of these long-playing records. Enjoyment of books is contagious. Even a reluctant reader may be carried away by the enthusiasm of other members of the family group. One gifted adolescent girl described her home experience as follows:

From the time I was a little girl until my homework became such a terrible burden, my mother always read aloud to me, and she chose books which were well up to, if not a little beyond my interests. This as well as the fact that she has always read a lot herself and gotten a great deal of pleasure from it, is really the only strong incentive I have ever had to read.

At this age, the child may become resistant to reading if the parents insist that he read. One boy gave this warning: "In creating an interest in reading, I think it is important for adults to stay in the background. If they constantly badger the child by saying, 'Why don't you read a book?* they will build up an opposition to reading. On the other hand, they should set a goal for the child to strive toward."
It is better to recommend to the child a book in which we think he would be particularly interested, or give him a selected list from which he may choose, than to force him to read certain books. We should not overlook the fact that some children lack the physical, social, or emotional readiness to read the books that we think would be good for them. Books that are either too easy or too difficult may prejudice a child against reading.

Competing and Reinforcing Interests

During these preadolescent years there is time for independent reading—more time than the child will ever have again. Outdoor play, sports, and scouting should, of course, have their place in his daily schedule. But music lessons, dancing lessons, excessive homework, household duties, and television should not be allowed to usurp time for reading and contemplation. Much of the homework that is required during these years might well take the form of individualized reading; this would permit the child to engage in guided reading as part of his home-school program. If reading aloud at bedtime has been an important part of the child's routine, he may want to continue seeking the companionship of books by himself at this time of day.

The development of hobbies and interests may serve as a spur to reading. Jimmy was making a rock collection; he needed books to help him label them and tell him more about them. This interest led him to read about prehistoric times and the way our mountains, canyons, and rivers were formed. Donald became interested in conservation, and was an authority on this subject by the end of the sixth grade. Tommy was interested in reading everything he could find about his baseball heroes. Ted, who liked to make and build things more than he liked to read, got his father to help him start building a boat. With a little encouragement, this interest led him to read about boats—a fascinating subject in which his buddies, too, became interested. Betty read recipes as ravenously as her active brothers ate the treats that she concocted. To build and operate her puppet theater, Karen not only read books on how to make puppets but also searched out stories that could be rewritten as puppet plays. We can help children to develop interests and to find reading material that fits their interests.

Availability of Books

A child's interest in reading may be stimulated by contact with a library. When we have an errand to do, we can drop the child off at the library and leave him free to browse and pick out some books that he wants to read. If we take out a library card in his name, he will feel grown up; now he can take books out on his own. If the local library has a book fair, he will see all sorts of colorful new books, in company with other children who are looking at them and talking about them.
Instead of depending upon adults to answer his questions, the older child can begin to seek the answers in books. Sometimes we can suggest a specific book in which he can find the answer. More often we will be able to suggest that he look for it in his own reference library, which we have helped him to build up. The picture dictionary of earlier years is now supplemented by a simple children's encyclopedia; every child should have access to a good dictionary, an atlas, and books on prehistoric and modern animals, stars, birds, flowers, trees, airplanes, ships, automobiles, and other subjects that are of interest to preadolescents. These reference books form a part of the personal library that he will gradually build.

Birthdays and holidays offer us opportunities to give the child books or subscriptions to magazines or book clubs. The child will look forward to receiving a new book in the mail each month—a hard-cover book or a paperback that is suited to his age and interests.

Teachers' Methods

Teachers, too, may do much to widen and intensify children's reading interests during these years. They should introduce books skillfully, and also see to it that pupils have time for reading and discussing them. One adolescent described her experience as follows:

In the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades, we had to read a book each week and give an oral report on it to the class. Thus I read more and more simple but interesting books and enjoyed it. In the eighth grade I began to explore more widely. That is when we had to read a classic novel and later on give a short summary of it and the author. I chose to read David Copperfield, and I still consider it my favorite.

Older children are intrigued by stories from the great epics: Beowulf, King Arthur, the Iliad, the Odyssey. When their interests are beginning to reach out far beyond the family circle, the lives of great heroes and heroines exert a strong appeal. These stories contribute to character development, and contain high adventure, drama, and excitement as well.

A gifted adolescent approved the practice of providing school time for reading, but criticized the quality of the books that were available:

In the elementary grades, we were always given some school time for free reading and were permitted to choose our material from the school library. But the books from which we were allowed to make a selection were usually about three years behind our interest level. This was probably due to an effort to offer material with a simple vocabulary, but it certainly didn't provide very challenging reading. Also, at each grade level, the type of books all seemed to be along one line.
In eighth grade we were assigned some really good books to read, but by that time most of us had so much other homework that we plowed through Huckleberry Finn and Uncle Toms Cabin when we were half asleep and couldn't get any pleasure at all from them.

Teachers have to be careful not to carry the analysis of literature too far, as an adolescent girl pointed out: "I remember having to read a part of a story at a time, and then being tested on it. This took the fun out of reading the story for me. I like to read for enjoyment— and I certainly don't care how many pirates there were in the landing party in Treasure Island"

The Comic-Book Problem

This is a comic-book age. We shall probably have to live with them for a while. If the child's friends are reading and exchanging comic books, no mere parent can stem the tide. If he confiscates them he will only earn the children's hostility. To make a rule, "No comic books," is to invite rebellion. One fifth-grade girl who disliked reading very much summed up the attitude of many children: "When I have some spare time I read the kind of books I enjoy and the only kind I enjoy are comic books." We should not be discouraged, however, for most children eventually outgrow this interest or, at least, its addictive phase.

In the meantime we can help the child to be more or less selective about the comic books he reads. What is "comic" about those that present lurid pictures of crime and violence? Some comic books are, at least, relatively true to life. Some deal quite accurately with current events, science, and geography. Some are well drawn and pleasing in color. To choose the better comics is one step in the right direction.

The next step is to make the transition from comics to books that have some of the qualities of action, adventure, suspense, and humor that attract children to the comics. Parents, teachers, and librarians can find books that are not too long and contain many illustrations, fast-moving action, and much conversation; these may lure children away from the comics.

The problem of comics would be more easily solved if the books we suggest as substitutes were as easily obtained and as cheap as the comics. Good children's books in paperback editions are giving the comics some stiff competition. They are on sale in supermarkets and toy stores. It might even pay a parent to turn her child loose in a bookstore occasionally, with permission to buy a book or two that he particularly wants.

Parents sometimes ask, "Is it better to let my child read comics than not to have him read at all?" Diverse answers are given to this question. Is it wise under any circumstances to fill a child's mind with crime, violence, and ugliness? Is it wise to lead him to think that unreal consequences, or no consequences at all, flow from certain very real acts? This is too high a price to pay for whatever reading interest or skill he may develop by reading comics.

However, if we can protect him from the worst of the comics, the better comics may serve a useful purpose. We have to start where the child is. He may learn from comics that printed words are talk. That is all to the good. If he reads the words and not just the pictures, he will build up a vocabulary of words he can recognize at sight. Since the qualities he enjoys in the comics are also to be found in books, the comics may lead him on to better reading matter.

Reading Goals For Intermediate Grades

The reading skills that children acquired during the primary grades are further developed in the intermediate grades. Sight vocabulary increases, and mastery of word-recognition skills makes independent reading possible. More and more often, older children recognize unfamiliar words by dividing them into syllables rather than by sounding them out letter by letter. As they become more expert in using context clues, they find they need fewer phonic clues to arrive at the correct meaning. They find ways of increasing their efficiency.

They learn the special vocabulary of the new subjects they are studying and acquire the special skills that are needed in reading the graphs, tables, charts, and symbols that are peculiar to certain fields of study.

They become more expert in getting the main ideas of paragraphs and noting the supporting details and illustrations. The next step is to relate these main ideas to the topic as a whole by putting them in outline or summary form. When they are learning to see relationships, pupils need instruction and practice. They should receive approval when they arrange ideas in sequence rather than leaving them scattered and isolated. Teachers have to be careful to encourage children to form the habit of seeing relationships among the ideas they gain from reading. This they can do by means of approval and by means of examination questions that call for this ability. They should not rely on multiple-choice questions alone but should encourage pupils to communicate ideas in essay replies, written summaries, and oral reports.

During these years children begin to write reports in which they use information gathered from several sources. For this purpose they need to become acquainted with the use of the table of contents, the index, the card catalogue, and reference books such as the encyclopedia. The teacher gives them instruction as well as practice in the location of information. The pupils read many kinds of materials for different purposes; they are also learning to use appropriate reading methods and rates.

Within the range of their experience, they begin to make sound inferences and generalizations from their reading, and to apply them to the solution of practical problems. They also begin to pay attention to the author's purpose, and the ways in which he may be trying to influence the reader. Since the preadolescent is practical-minded, he uses the ideas he gains from reading in his activities—in making and doing things, entertaining his friends, and acquiring all sorts of information. Reading helps him to develop his own ideas by clarifying and organizing his vague and random thoughts. Thus reading becomes ever more exciting and useful.

Children who do not make the expected progress in reading need special instruction. These children are too often neglected until their cumulative reading difficulties become serious.

This is an age in which personal standards of excellence have gone far in serving as arbiters of conduct. There is no excuse for letting able learners lapse into mediocre reading methods or read mediocre books.

Speaking And Listening

In today's school, children are encouraged to talk. By trying to communicate their ideas to someone else, they often clarify them. Children have a natural gift for vivid expression. This we can cultivate. We should be alert to respond to the original idea, the poetic phase. As Hughes Mearnes said in his fascinating book Creative Power,1 children are seldom aware that they are "talking poetry" unless their particularly felicitous phrases are called to their attention, or jotted down from time to time.

There should still be time, as in the primary grades, for the oral sharing of experiences. When children tell about the same event, they can compare their accounts and discuss why one was clearer, more precise, and more interesting to the listeners than another. Adults can be too patient with children whose speech is mumbled, indistinct, or incoherent—too patient in the sense of accepting it without showing the child how he can communicate his thoughts more clearly.

Fluency in speaking is evoked by having something important to communicate. We cannot expect a child to speak clearly about a subject that is vague and unclear to him. Monotonous, weak, barely intelligible voices are not characteristic of children who have something that they want to communicate and that they think others would want to hear. Parents can help by listening attentively when the child has seen or heard something that he wants to tell about. This kind of practice is all to the good.

Naturally shy children with weak voices may gain confidence by acting as leaders in a game described by Van Riper.2 The children form two lines facing each other. The leader, bent over, says in a small voice, "I'm a little fairy." Then he partly straightens up and says in a louder voice, "I'm a bigger fairy." Finally, he stands tall and says in a big voice, "I'm as big as Daddy." The second time all the children repeat the action-play with the leader. The wording can be changed to make the game acceptable to older children.

In school, some teachers are encouraging children to think aloud as they solve a problem or carry on an activity. At first the teacher may demonstrate the process by vocalizing what she is doing and thinking at each step. Then all the children think aloud in like manner. This helps them to talk intelligently, to perceive accurately, and to carry out a process more purposively.

Both children and adults learn to speak better by listening to their own voices. On hearing a playback of their speech, they often exclaim, "Do I really talk like that!" After analyzing their dissatisfactions with this first recording and learning how to correct the faults it so clearly revealed, they are usually pleased with the improvement shown in the second recording.

Speech is related to reading in several ways. The child whose speech is clear and distinct finds it easier to form sound-letter associations. Fluent speech helps him to anticipate meaning in the material he is reading. The child who achieves success in speech and wins approval for it gains a general self-confidence that improves his approach to reading.

Creative Writing

Reading may stimulate children to listen more carefully and record what they hear in creative writing. After reading poems like Stevenson's "Windy Nights," Amy Lowell's "Sea Shell," and Dorothy Baruch's "Riding in a Motor Boat," a fourth-grade class went on to write poems about sounds they enjoyed: the ripple of water, the swish of the sea, the rush of the wind, an echo in the woods, the footsteps of Father coming home.

Children are often shy about the poetry they write; they hesitate to share it with adults. We should respect their reticence. If they do take us into their confidence, about all we can do is to show appreciation of the parts that are fresh and vivid and perceptive. Effective writing stems from an attempt to clarify our thoughts and feelings for ourselves and others; it is the product of general sensitivity and mental alertness.

Developing The Child's Reading Vocabulary

You recognize thousands of printed words by sight. How did you learn them? Wasn't it mostly by wide reading? Each new author, each new field introduced you to words you had not known before. Some of these you may have looked up in the dictionary, but in most instances you sensed their meaning from the context—with the aid of some letter-sound associations and familiar parts. You probably tried to pronounce the word by syllables more often than you tried to sound it out letter by letter. These skills that you have used so often are the word-building skills that your child is perfecting during the intermediate grades.

Firsthand experience is still important in building word meanings. Teachers conduct experiments in general science, and plan excursions that are preceded and followed by discussions. In addition, they maintain bulletin boards on which pupils find important notices and clippings on a variety of subjects; they build up a file of clippings on topics in which the children may be interested, and encourage children to use both classroom and school libraries. At home, children should have similar experiences; they can also watch current-events programs and travel films on television. All these experiences extend and enrich their stock of meaningful words.

A study of the ways in which sixth-grade pupils acquired word meanings 3 throws some light on the actual outcomes of our attempts to teach word meanings in the classroom. Most of the associations that these children reported involved experiences, persons, and things. For example:

Defiant. "There was a moving picture, The Defiant Ones. They wanted to get away from the camp and then from each other."

Tussle. "When I have a hard time getting my rain boots on, I have a tussle with them."

Stationary. I talk to my friend, Phyllis, who sits beside me, and when I talk to her I just twist my neck, but she's stationary—she doesn't have to move."

Unanimous. "We voted for a new class president last month. Everybody was in agreement on one person, and the teacher said, It's unanimous; he's elected.'"

Livelihood. "The teacher said, Teaching is my livelihood. It's the way I earn my living.'"

The most frequent word association involved a person who was familiar to the pupil. Of all the methods used by the teacher, the pupils thought dramatization of the word was the most effective. For example, tussle was dramatized by having two boys engage in a tussle; and scowl, by the teacher's scowling.

Associations involving similarities of letters or sounds were thought to be less effective. For example:

Tedious begins with the same letter as tiresome. Wary begins in the same way as watchful.

The most memorable meanings were those which were personalized—which were related to the child as a person and to his ego needs. For example, one word that was known by a class of very poor readers was confiscate. When the children were asked how they happened to know this word so well, they said: "Our teacher often uses it. She says, If you bring that yo-yo to school again, I'll confiscate it,' or Tm going to confiscate Tommy's water pistol.'"

Words that are vitalized by intimate association with children's real interests and actual daily experiences are most quickly learned and easily remembered. The difficulty of a given word is governed by the child's background of experience. For example, fertile was an easier word to learn than futile for children who had been studying about fertile soil.

It is also helpful to direct children's attention to a word's peculiarity of structure or any other unique feature that it may possess.

These are important facts to remember if your child has difficulty in learning certain words. Any new word will be learned more quickly if it is associated with something that is personal and meaningful to the child. Using the new word frequently in conversation also helps the child to fix it in mind. The more use a person makes of a word, the more readily it becomes part of his sight vocabulary.

Children should also be encouraged to memorize poems and sayings that have particular appeal for them. Most of us have had the experience of gaining a better understanding of an unfamiliar word by noticing the way it was skillfully used in a phrase or in a line of poetry. For example, the phrase "myriad stars" in the hymn may clarify the meaning of myriad, and a line from Keats, "Their branches ne'er remember their green felicity," may bring meaning to the word felicity in a new context.
Many books and practice exercises have been published as aids to building bigger and better vocabulary. Many of them are boring to children. Moreover, if the words are learned out of context, such books may have little influence on the use of words in meaningful reading. Most words have more than one meaning; for some, more than a hundred meanings can be found in an unabridged dictionary. A definition or synonym from a dictionary may give a clue to the meaning of a word, but the reader must still test the meaning in the context. In addition, they should learn, as need arises, the new words in the material they are currently reading. They will incidentally learn some of the prefixes, suffixes, and roots that they frequently meet in their reading, and thus become aware of word parts.

Word-Recognition Skills

The growing edge of a child's vocabulary is extended by his ability to get the meaning of words in context. The stronger the context clues, the fewer sound-letter associations are needed; the weaker the context clues, the more letter sounds the child needs to know. A child who uses context clues alone makes many mistakes. The one who makes poor use of context clues belabors the word unnecessarily. He needs to know just enough of the sound-letter associations to call to mind the word that makes sense in the sentence.

Consequently when your child in the fourth, fifth, or sixth grade comes across a word that is strange in form or meaning, it is usually best not to pronounce it for him or tell him the meaning of it, if he has been taught how to solve it himself. Solving the word himself not only gives him practice in using phonics and other word-recognition skills, but also reinforces his feeling of being an independent reader. As soon as he has been taught to use the dictionary, be sure he has a junior dictionary 4 to use when other word-recognition skills fail, or when he wants to check on the accuracy of his analysis. It is so easy to say to a child who asks you the meaning of a word, "Look it up in the dictionary." But have you ever watched a child fuss and fumble over a word he is trying to look up?

There's a real skill in using the dictionary. It is usually not taught until about the fourth grade. Actually, three skills are needed—skill in locating the word in the dictionary, skill in pronouncing it, and skill in getting its meaning.

Skill in locating the word requires knowledge of the alphabet. If the child has learned the alphabet in four sections, as described on page 112, then he knows that d will be in the first quarter of the dictionary and will turn at once to that section. Since he knows the sequence of the letters, he will easily find d. For further guidance he will look at the guide lines at the top of each page. These will enable him to locate quickly the page on which the word appears. Teachers sometimes have children run races in finding a given word. Those who use these location skills usually win.

If the child has heard, but not read, the word he is looking up, its spelling may cause him some trouble. He may have to try several possible spellings before he finally locates it.

After he has located the word, he may have difficulty in pronouncing it. Here he needs an understanding of the diacritical marks, which are usually found at the bottom of each page, and are explained at the beginning of the dictionary. He also needs to understand how words are divided into syllables, and what the accent marks mean. A child can get excellent practice in using the dictionary by making his own vocabulary-spelling file: a card for each word, which he must divide correctly into syllables.

The third skill is in getting the meaning of the word from the information given. This is a discouraging process when the child has to use an adult dictionary. A simplified dictionary such as the Thorndike-Barnhart Junior Dictionary is much better to begin with, since the definitions are stated in words that the child can understand. As he notices how many meanings a word may have, the child will soon realize that he must choose the meaning that fits the context.

When used to the fullest extent, dictionary study can be a liberal education. There is a wealth of fascinating facts in the back pages alone. And the main body embraces words and meanings that have evolved through the centuries as people have used and refined (and misused) the language. Children aged ten and eleven are often fascinated by the dictionary; some ask for a dictionary as a birthday gift.

Study-Type Skills

Study-type skills are usually considered to include the use of tables of contents, indexes, headings, italicized inserts, and other guides to sources of information, and the reading of maps, graphs, and tables. These are skills that children of this age need, and enjoy learning.

As soon as the child has had classroom instruction and practice on a given skill, the parents can give him occasions to use it at home. If he has to find information on a certain topic, let him use the table of contents or index of a book to locate it. If he wants to know whether a given chapter contains information that he needs, suggest that he skim over the chapter, noting especially the headings and italicized words, and the first sentence of each paragraph. If he has had lessons on reading maps, let him figure out the route for your next auto trip. The next time you have to get information about planes or trains, give him addition practice in reading tables. These practical applications not only give the child additional practice but also convince him that school learning is useful.

Parents can often supply source material for the intensive study of a question or topic. These facilities for independent learning include newspapers, news weeklies and other magazines, almanacs, atlases, and other materials that adults use to keep abreast of the times. Children's weeklies such as My Weekly Reader and the publications issued by Scholastic Magazines help to bridge the gap between children's reading and adult reading. In school, children should be given instruction in how to select and use these sources of information. At home, they can obtain additional practice and guidance.

Discussion of selected television and radio programs can greatly enrich the child's background in the fields of social studies, science and, to a lesser extent at present, literature. National educational television can make a significant contribution to the enrichment of children's school experience.

Reading For Meaning

It is fascinating to sit down with a child in these grades and see just how he reads. After introducing him to the selection so that he becomes interested in it and has some purpose in reading it, we let him read it silently. Then ask him to reread it orally, a few sentences at a time, and to express his thoughts as he reads. Then ask him a number of pertinent questions about word meanings, main ideas, details, antecedents and consequences, inferences, generalizations, and the author's intent or purpose. In this way both the adult and the child can learn a great deal about the way he reads—whether he merely skims the surface and picks up separate facts without stopping to interpret or organize them, or whether he moves easily from specifics to generalizations and from literal to applied meanings and evaluations; 5 whether he confuses the author's point of view with his own views and prejudices, or whether his response to reading material is objective rather than personal or emotional.

These skills of interpretation, critical reading, and the making of generalizations should be taught in school. The teacher may direct pupils' attention to the ways in which different authors make their writing effective. "How does the author make you feel as he did about the South Seas? How does he use sights and sounds and odors to create the impression? How does the author capture your attention in the first paragraph? How does he show you that the characters have changed during the course of the story?"—questions like these help the pupils to become sensitive to the elements of effective writing. A greater awareness of the differences between good and poor writing will improve their own writing as well as heightening their enjoyment of reading.
At home, the parents can use more informal discussions of books that they and the children have read to increase the children's literary sensitivity and sharpen their critical judgment.6

Books may be read on different levels. For example, Huckleberry Finn may be read as a story of a boy's adventures, as an account of life on the Mississippi, as a study in character interpretation, or as an account of the conflict between the social groups represents by Huck Finn's father and by Aunt Polly. Questions such as "What kind of person was Johnny Tremain? Why did he say. .. ? What would make him feel and act this way?" evoke a deeper understanding of fictional characters and point up their influence on the reader's own life.

At home, children have freedom to select the books that appeal to them at a given time, that illumine their present or past experiences, that meet an immediate emotional need. The child may not get out of a book what we or certain literary critics think he should get. But we defeat our purpose if we force our interpretation upon the child. Let him interpret the book in the light of his past experiences and in accord with his present needs. Then it makes sense to him; it clarifies his experiences and helps him to understand a little more of his expanding world. In his imagination he can experiment with life without fear of the consequences. In his mind's eye he can try out various ways of handling a given situation, and see more clearly what makes a good life. If he trusts us enough to share some of his insights with us, we must be careful not to discourage his explorations into the realm of the unknown and the spiritual; we must refrain from expressing our own disillusionment or indifference.

In their readings in the social studies children should gain an understanding of other places, times, and people. This kind of reading is in harmony with their desire for independence and for freedom to move beyond the family circle. It is a joy for them to read stories and books that take them into other lands and, nowadays, into outer space. If the social purpose of social studies is to be realized, pupils need to see beyond the detailed facts of geography and history, and come to an understanding of the way people have struggled, and are struggling, to achieve a better life.

For children in the intermediate grades history should come largely in the form of biography. It should be centered on people— not only on the few who have achieved prominence but also on the unknown multitudes: their work, their play, their aspirations, and their collective influence. When history and geography become personalized so that the pupils put themselves in the place of people who are confronted by problems, then they can grasp significances that are not to be gained by memorizing dates, names, and principles. Children of these ages have a creative approach to problems; they are eager to explore new concepts.
To obtain this deep appreciation of times, places, and people, children need much supplementary reading. Fortunately there are many books that children of this age can read independently. Here are some that have been recommended for their understanding of other peoples, of early explorations, of family life.

Easy books include:

Clark, Ann Nolan. In My Mothers House. A description of Indian life.
Secret of the Andes.
Handforth, Thomas. Mei Li. McCloskey, Robert. Blueberries for Sal.
One Morning in Maine.
Politi, Leo. Juanita.
For more able readers:
Bleeker, Sonia. The Cherokee: Indians of the Mountains.
ThePueblo Indians: Farmers of the Rio Grande.
Brink, Carol Ryrie. Caddie Woodlawn.
Burns, William. A World Full of Homes.
America Begins.
 
Dalgliesh, Alice. America Builds Homes. Seredy, Kate. The Good Master.
Boys enjoy exciting stories of discovery:
Daugherty, James. Landing of the Pilgrims.
Of Courage Undaunted.
Janeway, Elizabeth. The Vikings.
Jennings, John. Clipper Ship Days.
Neuberger, Richard. Lewis and Clark Expedition.
Sperry, Armstrong. Voyages of Christopher Columbus.

These and many other books related to the social studies help children to bring a deeper understanding to their reading in the content field.

At home, it is natural for children of these ages to share their parents' interest in the daily newspaper and current magazines. They are already becoming aware of the values to be found in newspaper and magazine reading, and are already growing more selective about the parts they read. Discussion of certain headlines, news reports, and articles stimulates them to think as they read, reflect about what they have read, and relate the ideas they gain from various sources.

Children in the intermediate grades usually look forward eagerly to their science periods. As in the case of social studies, the home can do much to enrich the child's school instruction. Popular science books and magazines both raise and answer questions. Television programs offer glimpses of the adult world of science and of explorations into outer space. Science is news; many references to new discoveries are published in the daily papers. Parents can help children to organize and relate the knowledge they gain from these scattered sources.

From these sources and from classroom experiments pupils acquire the background and mental content that are necessary for comprehending science material. For example, geography and science may be combined in the study of the precipitation on the western and eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains. Pupils read the rainfall maps and perform an experiment in the science laboratory to answer such questions as:

Which are the prevailing winds laden with moisture?
Why do the winds blow?
Why do they blow from the west?
Why does condensation take place?

Individual Differences

Two children in the same family can be quite different in their reading development. Since they have the same parents and have been brought up in the same environment, we expect them to be similar. But they were really not brought up in the same environment. Even the physical environment is somewhat different for each one, and the psychological environment may be radically different. The family may have been in a better financial position when the second child was born. The parents may have profited by their experience in bringing up the first child. Different people outside the family may have come in contact with the second child. Many other factors may have made the environment different for the second child than it was for the first. Heredity, too, may have favored one child over the other with respect to mental ability and emotional stability. The only thing to do is to accept these differences and help each child develop his potentialities.

Parents can be glad they are not fifth-grade teachers who have to cope with forty children, some of whom are nonreaders and some of whom have high school reading ability—not to mention still greater differences in personality and background.

How does a teacher with such a variegated class individualize reading instruction? There are many ways of doing this; parents can apply some of them at home.

If the teacher is working with the class as a whole, he may ask different kinds of questions. To Johnny, who is having difficulty in getting the barest meaning from the assignments, the teacher may put a simple factual questions: "Who was President of the United States during the Civil War?" Of Clarence, a superior reader, the teacher may ask a question that requires him to find the antecedents and consequences of a certain event. Similarly, the teacher will vary his assignments in accordance with abilities and needs.

If the students are reading books they have selected, or doing a written assignment, the teacher may take this opportunity to help several of them individually.

If some children are deficient in basic reading skills, the teacher may group them according to their types of difficulty, and give them the instruction and practice they need. A child's difficulty in reading may be aggravated by the attitude of his classmates. A twelve-year-old boy in the sixth grade who was able to read only on the fourth-grade level was ridiculed by his classmates. Their laughter was particularly disturbing to him because he had an unrealistic ambition to become a doctor. He tried to conceal his poor reading ability by reporting higher marks than he really obtained and by taking many books from the library which he could not and did not read. His mother's attitude was scornful rather than sympathetic.

If the subject that is being taught lends itself to division into several topics, the children may choose the topic that interests them most and read to prepare a report on it. Whenever pupils divide themselves in this fashion, each group contains some good readers and some poor readers; the teacher tries to see to it that there is enough reading material on each of the various levels of difficulty so that all the children can make an appropriate contribution.

With the help of the librarian, the teacher also tries to provide a wide range of material for free reading, and to guide individuals in their choices.

Occasionally the teacher asks pupils who, regardless of their ability, are reading well, to describe and discuss their reading and study methods. A pupil may be able to describe effective reading methods to his classmates more clearly than the teacher can.

Finally, the teacher encourages pupils to keep a record of their reading progress. "Nothing succeeds like observed success."

At home, too, in discussing books that the children have read, the parent can vary the questions according to the child's special reading needs and abilities. He can also give the child the practice that is prescribed by the teacher to help him over a specific difficulty, and can provide supplementary leisure reading on the child's independent reading level, whatever that may be.
For exceptional children, an individual approach is certainly needed. Those who are visually handicapped may need other avenues of learning—listening and talking may help them more than reading. All exceptional children need exceptional interest and motivation—though even these cannot overcome lack of basic skills. The reluctant reader—the child who can read but doesn't—may have one or more of several different attitudes: apathy—"I don't like to read"; a feeling of inadequacy—"I can't read"; or resistance—"I won't read." The approach to a child of this sort should be governed by the attitude. Apathy may be overcome by means of attractive, interesting reading material: for example, stories about the child himself or about other children of his age. A feeling of inadequacy is best dispelled by an experience of success in reading. To combat resistance, it is useful to know something about its origins—whether it stems from parental pressure or parental neglect, from a hopeless sibling rivalry, or some other actual or fancied cause. If one can determine this, one may be able to remove the cause or help the child accept the situation and succeed in spite of it.

Special Help For Reading Difficulties

When a child appears to lag behind other children of his age in reading, parents begin to worry. They tend to relieve their worry by taking action, often prematurely. In the primary grades, these differences in reading progress should be dealt with by the concerted action of teacher and parent. To refer a child to a clinic at this stage may do more harm than good; it may give the child the impression that something must be very wrong with him and that his parents want to change him.

During the intermediate grades referral to a reading clinic, laboratory, or center may be helpful, depending upon the nature of the reading difficulty and the kind of service that is offered.

Some of these reading centers are part of the public school system, some are privately operated, and a few are connected with mental hygiene or guidance clinics. However, they should all have the same aim: to help each child develop his reading potentialities.

The usual procedure is first to assess the child's potentialities and determine the causes of his reading difficulties. Accordingly, parents are often asked to furnish information about the child's early development and other data that might have a bearing on the reading problem. Information is also obtained from school records, social agencies, and other sources. The initial interview with the child is important in aiding the clinician to understand his attitude toward the situation and to establish a friendly relationship with him.

Appropriate procedures are then used, sometimes with individual children and sometimes with small groups. The worker starts where the child is in his reading development, and builds on his present interests, learning ability, and proficiency.

The role of the parent is to cooperate with the clinic and with the school. Concerted action is necessary. The child himself is a part of the team; he should share, with parents, teachers, and special technicians, the responsibility for developing his reading potentialities.

Summary Of Reading Objectives And Ways To Realize Them

Quick word recognition

Increasing word knowledge —key words in each field

Location of information skills

Proficiency in writing a report

Special skills—reading maps, graphs, tables
 
Review as necessary skills that have been learned

Study each new key word when it is introduced Make vocabulary cards or compile a picture dictionary of these words

Practice using card catalogue, table of contents, index, headings, italics, and other sources and signals

Make a tentative outline

Find sources

Examine sources for accurate, relevant material

Select important ideas on the topic Take notes Organize facts Write report, present it in an interesting way

Instruction and practice at school, and practice outside school

Wide voluntary reading

Reading for meaning— recognition of the author's purpose, interpretation of literature on deeper levels, critical thinking
 
Read supplementary books in connection with each subject and with outside interests and hobbies

Raise thought questions before reading and while reading; look for clues to deeper interpretation; relate to one's own knowledge and experience
 
It is the child who must take the initiative in improving his reading during the intermediate grades. But teachers and parents can still guide his learning and provide him with instructional material. They can help him to improve his speech; develop his reading vocabulary; use context clues and other word-recognition skills more effectively; locate sources of information; read maps, tables, and graphs; and interpret, organize, and apply what he reads. We are concerned that the child's reading have increasing personal significance for him during these years.

Questions And Answers

1. What can parents do to provide a good home background for the reading development of their children in the intermediate grades?

Continue the same general procedures that they used in earlier years:

(1) Enjoy reading themselves.

(2) Read aloud stories and other selections that are enjoyable to both parent and child.

(3) Listen to children read or tell about what they have read, when they come home proud of any newly acquired ability or knowledge.

(4) Bring home books that are especially interesting and suitable to the children.

(5) Take the children with you when you go to the library to read.

(6) Don't force reading upon them, but lead them up the path to better reading.

(7) Show them ways in which they can improve, rather than criticize them for lack of improvement.
 
(8) Capitalize on the children's interests as incentives to read. A TV program or an overnight camping trip may serve as an occasion to introduce books on this subject.

2. How does television affect children's reading?
From many studies of this question Paul Witty 7 concludes that about one-third of our children read less than they did before television came in to usurp reading time. The solution is to take positive action—to see that children learn to read well and have continuous opportunity and encouragement to do so.

3. Is it better for children to read anything than to read nothing?

This question has generated more heat than light. The most reasonable answer is that we have to start where the child is and gradually help him to climb the ladder of better reading. Some of us are so reluctant to start where children are that one is reminded of the story of the traveler who asked a native the way to Carnavan. The old fellow replied, "If I was going to Carnavan, I wouldn't start from here." On the road to better reading, it would be fine if we could start at a high point of literary quality, but we have to start where the child or adolescent is. We find out what qualities he enjoys in the books he is reading, and try to provide better books that have the swift action, adventure, humor, romance, or heroism that attracts him. Thus he might start with adventure comics, move on to science fiction, Stevenson's Treasure Island and Kidnapped, and eventually take on a book like Moby-Dick. Every child, no matter what his reading ability, can choose to read excellent books on his level.

4. How can we divert children from reading "trash"?

We sometimes forget how many insignificant "series books" we ourselves once read with the greatest satisfaction. Some persons of literary stature have testified that "The Rover Boys" or "The Little Colonel" series made a real contribution to the development of their reading interests. Undoubtedly these books meet a need that some children have at a certain stage of their development. In time they usually get tired of them and turn to more mature books. There is, however, a pernicious kind of trash that should be avoided at all age levels. These books give a distorted picture of life, depict sheer violence and brutality, and disparage the good, the true, and the beautiful.

Good teen-age literature helps to bridge the gap between children's books and the classics. Children whose lives have been placid and uneventful cannot suddenly come to appreciate the struggle and despair, the doubt and death and tragedy that are found in great literature. As they grow emotionally they become increasingly capable of seeing the world as it is viewed by great artists.

5. How can a parent encourage a child to widen his reading interests?

Many parents are concerned because their child's reading interests are narrow. Gifted children often read intensively in one field. In their case, intensive reading should not be discouraged, but they should be helped to see the connections between their specialty and other areas of knowledge.

David, for example, had an absorbing interest in the conservation of natural resources. He read everything he could find on the subject. So accurate and thorough was his knowledge of conservation that the teacher let him teach this unit to the class in social studies. He brought his pictures and charts and presented his store of information. He even made up a test to give at the end of the unit. The class was interested and appreciative.

The teacher helped David see connections between conservation and other subjects, and interested him in the conservation of human resources. This took him into the realm of literature, especially the personal-social type of novel and short story. The parents agreed to promote these broader interests at home by giving David access to selected books and encouraging him to talk about his reading.

6. Can a child read too much?

Few parents worry about this. Today's world is so full of a number of things besides reading that few children read excessively. However, an occasional parent or child may overemphasize reading. For a few individuals reading becomes an escape from the responsibilities and disappointments of life. Wisely chosen books that deal realistically with problems of human relations may give insights that can be applied to their own lives.

7. What are some ways to encourage voluntary reading and make it a lifetime habit?
 
Reading interest often stems from other interests. Trips to exciting places, nature walks, hobbies, special projects—all may require reading that opens new vistas and leads on to more reading.

Friends are influential. You are lucky if your child's friends enjoy reading and share their reading interests with one another. Membership in teen-age book clubs may convince the child that reading is approved by his peers.

By promoting discussions of current events and books at home, you may raise questions that can be answered only by further reading.

Children should be encouraged to make trips to the library or bookmobile. If the child cannot go himself, the parent can bring home books that accord with the child's interests and reading ability. These should be neither too hard nor too easy—books that the child can read independently with pleasure.

Give the child carefully chosen books on various occasions, along with other things that he especially wants.

Subscribe to a children's magazine or a teen-age magazine or book club. Most children are thrilled to get things through the mail. They enjoy building a library that is their very own.

8. What kinds of summer reading programs are possible?

Before the end of school it would be a good idea to ask the teacher about the child's present reading ability, the kinds of books he can read independently, and the kinds of experiences he needs. Parents should welcome a frank appraisal of their child's reading. It would be helpful if the teacher were to furnish a list of suitable books in various fields that are easy enough for the child to read with enjoyment. This kind of reading would build up the child's confidence, increase his fluency, and broaden his vocabulary.

Summer trips enlarge the child's background of experience, and this enlargement facilitates meaningful reading and speaking.

If there is a public library in the vicinity, children should be encouraged to make use of it in their vacation time.

If there is no library, the school might arrange to circulate books through its library, or even give each child five or six suitable books that he could take home as his own summer library.

To prevent books from being crowded out of the vacation schedule, it is helpful to have a planned time for reading. The child should select the time of day that he would prefer to set aside as "reading time." However, the schedule should not become a fetish. Exceptions should be made if other valuable activities occasionally become available in the reading time.

9. Why do not all the children in a grade have the same reader?

Sometimes they do, but they go through it at different rates. When the good readers have convinced the teacher by their superior performance that they have mastered the basic skills that are taught in that particular grade, they turn to other books, which they can read independently.

Sometimes there are three groups of readers in a class. One group is reading above their grade level, another group is reading about on their grade level, and the third group is reading below grade. For these three groups different books are provided. No one book would be challenging enough for the best readers and simple enough for the poorest readers.

Multilevel reading material provides for a wide range of reading ability. The Reading Laboratories, developed by Don Parker and published by Science Research Associates, consist of a graded series of boxes. Each Laboratory includes pamphlets on six or seven levels of difficulty. The articles are highly interesting; there are questions to test the pupils' reading abilities; and the system of scoring and score recording on each lesson stimulates pupils to do better next time. As soon as they can read well on their present level, they progress to the next higher set of pamphlets. Both teachers and pupils are enthusiastic about these "Reading Laboratories," which are being used by millions of children.

10. What do reading scores mean?

Scores on reading tests may be misleading. A test says that a child is reading on the fifth-grade level. You give him a fifth-grade book and he stumbles through it, comprehending little. What was wrong with the test? In the first place, some children are clever at guessing the right answers to multiple-choice questions; they do not really comprehend the selection. Second, the test score may reflect the child's frustration level—that is, the level at which his reading ability breaks down—not his independent reading level. Third, some children, especially those who have eye defects or a short attention span, can do quite well on a short test but not on a sustained reading task. Fourth, reading tests measure only a limited number of reading skills, perhaps not the one that is required for the book you handed the alleged fifth-grade reader.

Thus reading tests give only a general idea of how well a child reads as compared with other children of his age and grade. If he has high mental ability and a home background that encourages reading, you can expect his score to be higher than the average. If he is generally slow in learning and immature for his age, his score will probably be below average.

The best way to find out how well he reads is to ask him to read different kinds of material, beginning with easy selections and going on to more difficult ones. As he reads aloud a paragraph or two, you can note any difficulty that he may have in word recognition, phrasing, or expression. After he has read a passage silently, you can see how well he answers questions that indicate his comprehension of the passage.

In this way a teacher or parent can find out exactly how a child reads. At the same time, he can show him how to read the passage more effectively. This procedure will also indicate what kinds of books you can suggest for his independent reading.

11. Why should a child be promoted to the next grade when he isn't reading up to his present grade level?

If the child is big for his age, if he has a younger brother or sister who would be in the same grade with him if he were left back, if he hasn't got along very well with his present teacher, and if the teacher in the next higher grade is skillful in providing for individual differences, then it would probably be better to promote the child even though he is reading below his grade level.

If none of these conditions prevail, and both the child and the parent believe that another year in the same grade would help him to gain the reading skills in which he is deficient, then it would probably be wise for him to remain in that grade for another year or at least another semester. If a child is pushed into a grade that is above his present ability, he may feel like a drowning man, unable to keep his head above water.

12. How can we help to speed up our child's learning so that he will be promoted with his class and be up to grade level in the fall?

First, we should learn more about the child. Does he seem to be trying as hard as he can? Is he worried about being behind the other children in his class? What are his reading difficulties? Has he had special instruction in reading during the year? How much did he profit by it? What are his summer plans? Would going to summer school deprive him of outdoor play and social activities that he needs for his best development?

The answers to these and other questions would help us to determine (1) whether the child should try to improve his reading, and (2) if so, what summer plan would be best for him.

If the child has a naturally slow rate of learning and is maturing slowly, putting pressure on him might have an unfavorable effect on his total development. It would be better for him to have a healthful, happy summer and read as many easy, interesting books as possible. This would increase his vocabulary and fluency, and prepare him to profit by the reading instruction in whichever grade he enters next fall.

If the child's unsatisfactory performance in reading is due to poor previous instruction, frequent absences, or an emotional disturbance, a summer program in a reading center should help him to recognize his deficiencies, assess his present ability, and make progress, perhaps up to the next grade level.

13. How does comparing a child with other children affect his reading?

Instead of stimulating a child to read better, invidious comparisons may set him back. If the brother or cousin has higher general ability, we are setting an impossible goal. Moreover, comparisons may give the poor reader the impression that we care more for the other child than we do for him. One boy sensed that his parents felt this way; he said, "They really don't care for me—only that I be a credit to them."

Comparing the child with Uncle Jim or with Father in his younger days may have a variety of effects. If Dad, who is now a successful businessman, didn't learn to read, why should the child bother? If the child is fond of Uncle Jim, who is also a poor reader, the comparison may confirm his idea of himself as a poor reader. If an adult whom the child dislikes is held up as a model reader, the child will not want to emulate this quality.

Children usually resent comparisons. We should help each child to establish individual standards that he can achieve with satisfaction and without undue competition.

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