how to

TUTOR
A Step-by-Step Guide to Teaching the 3 Rs

how to

TUTOR
A Step-by-Step Guide to Teaching the 3 Rs

Samuel L. Blumenfeld
the creator of Alpha-Phonics

Vallecito California

 First Edition 1973

Second Edition 1986
Third Revised Edition 2014
by Samuel Blumenfeld

All Rights Reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in
connection with a review or article.

Storehouse Press
P. O. Box 158
Vallecito, CA 95251
www.chalcedon.edu
ISBN: 978-1-891375-63-7
Library of Congress Control Number: 2013952712

for
Janet and Claude,
Suzy and Nini

table of

CONTENTS
Preface to the 2014 Edition ix
Prefacexiii
Part 1: How to Become a Good Tutor 1
Part 2: Reading 13
Part 3: Handwriting 123
Part 4: Arithmetic 164

Preface to the
2014 Edition
Preface to the 2014 Edition

his book was written specifically to enable parents to teach their

children the three basic primary subjectsreading, writing and
arithmeticat home. If you are among the many parents who now wish
to homeschool their children, this book provides the necessary instruction program to get starteda ready-made curriculum for the first two
years.
Of course, this book can also be used by tutors and teachers who
want an easy-to-use handbook on teaching the three Rs in the traditional manner. Teachers in public schools may need the permission of
the principal to use this book in their classrooms. But simply having a
knowledge and understanding of the traditional methods of instruction
will make them better teachers.
When How to Tutor was first published in 1973, it was already apparent that there was a great need for a simple, straight-forward tutoring book for the basic academic skills. The public primary schools had
degenerated into glorified kindergartens where the major emphasis was
on play and activities with practically no emphasis on intellectual development. Parents cries for back to basics went largely unheeded by the
educators. In time, many parents realized that if their children were ever
ix

How to Tutor

to get a good grounding in the basics, the teaching and learning would
have to be done at home.
How to Tutor is a do-it-yourself manual that has now been in use for
thirty-six years and has proven itself to be of great value to parents, tutors, and even some classroom teachers. Over the years the author has
received letters thanking him for the book. But his favorite letter came
in 1978 from a father in New Jersey who wrote:
I just must write to express my wifes and my thanks for your
excellent book How to Tutor, It has been so very valuable to us in
teaching our 8-year-old son, Eric, to read, write, and do arithmetic.
Eric is evidently a very intelligent boy ... However, before he
was halfway through the first grade, we were beginning to wonder
about the methods being used in the public schools in Westfield
... By the time he was in second grade, we were worried at the
retardation processnot only on our son, but on our friends sons
and daughters.
We went to our public library. We found ... your How to Tutor ... I started tutoring our son ... Not being an educator, nor
even having an education beyond the twelfth grade, I knew I must
follow your books instructions exactly, which I have been doing.
Even you wouldnt believe the results! It was as if we were witnessing a miracle!
When I started on September 10th, Eric was almost totally retarded as to reading. Evidently he was one of those youngsters who
refused to attempt sight reading. He just turned see-and-say off
entirely.
Anyhow, would you believe that we went from Lesson 2 through
Lesson 27 in two weeks? And by Thanksgiving time we had drilled
right through Lesson 117.
Eric is now reading Robinson Crusoe, and is just loving it! He
had been having headaches all through the second grade, and was
losing weight.
Since he started learning by your method, he hasnt been sick
one day, and has gained weight rapidly to where he has a perfect
physique! Needless to say, we are so grateful.

That father said it all. Since 1973 the need for parents to take matters
into their own hands has become ever more acute. It is estimated that

Preface to the 2014 Edition

xi

at least one third of the children who enter public school do not learn
to readnot because they cant, but because of widespread educational
malpractice that prevents them from doing so.
State supervision, accreditation and certification of teachers have not
only not prevented educational malpractice in the public schools but
have guaranteed that it will continue for many years to come.
Thus, it is up to parents to take the initiative and teach their children
at home. There is no better way to assure that children learn the basic
skills, without which future academic success is impossible. Besides, its
easier than you think, its enormous fun, and makes for a stronger, happier family.
S.L.B.
Littleton, Massachusetts
January 2014

Preface
Preface

he need for a simple, easy-to-use book that instructs parents, teachers, and tutors in how to teach the basic primary subjectsreading,
writing, and arithmeticin the traditional manner is greater than ever.
The public schools simply do not teach these subjects any longer in the
manner that was used in this country from its earliest days until the midtwentieth century. The result has been widespread reading failure, the
deterioration of handwriting, and the lack of mathematical skills among
countless young Americans.
The purpose of this book is not to tell the history of how all of this
came about. For that story, I recommend that you read John Taylor Gattos elucidating Underground History of American Education and Charlotte Iserbyts The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America. The purpose of
this book is to provide you with an understanding of the three primary
subjects and how best to teach them. Once you understand the basic
principles behind each subject, you will find teaching them a delight.
This book has already been used by thousands of homeschoolers, tutors, and teachers since it was first published in 1973, and its success as
a teaching instrument has been well established by its users. And the
reason why we have decided to revise it is because much has changed in
xiii

xiv

How to Tutor

American education during the last thirty-five years. Weve witnessed

the astounding growth of the homeschool movement, which was largely
helped and encouraged by this book, and the continued academic decline and disarray of our government schools.
We believe that the purpose of education in a free society is to pass
on to the future generation the knowledge, wisdom, and moral values of
the previous generation. But in order to do that, one must first give the
child the academic and intellectual tools needed to absorb and integrate
the knowledge, wisdom, and values being passed on.
Another important change in America since the first publication of
this book is the revolution in computer technology. The library, which
used to be the main source for research, has been largely replaced by the
Internet. This makes homeschooling even more practical and efficient,
providing the student with access to knowledge in virtually every aspect
of human endeavor.
But in order to make the most productive use of the computer, one
must learn to read, write, and use numbers. Basic literacy is the prerequisite for using a computer effectively. It therefore requires teaching a
child how to properly use the keyboard. In other words, students should
be taught touch-typing before being required to use the word processor.
It is unwise to let your student develop the bad habit of hunt and peck.
It must also be stressed that using a word processor does not mean
its no longer necessary to learn cursive writing. On the contrary. Cursive writing helps develop good reading habits and spelling proficiency.
Good penmanship is still a virtue in that it conveys competence, maturity, manual skill, a learned hand, and academic security. We shall talk
more about the importance of cursive writing in that section of the book.
And so, if you are a homeschooler with a young child, this book will
provide you with all you need academically for the first three primary
years of your childs education. Once your child masters the three basic
subjects, he or she will have a solid foundation on which to build a strong
and successful academic career.
If you are a teacher in a public, private, or parochial school, you will
find in this book a guide to teaching the basic primary subjects in a way
that will guarantee success for you and the children you are teaching. If
you teach in a public school, you may have to contend with those who
oppose using these methods. Let prudence be your guide. Your principal
may give you permission to use these methods with children at risk.

Preface

xv

For tutors who are in the business of helping the learning disabled,
this book will enable you to do an effective job. The author has cured
many young students with reading problems by using these methods, so
he speaks from experience. In fact, this book will help you deal with all
three learning disabilities: dyslexia, disgraphia, and dyscalculia. However, always remember that in dealing with students with any of these
problems, patience should be the most important ingredient of your
teaching style.

part one

How to Become
a Good Tutor
How to Become a Good Tutor

he art of tutoring is as old as education itself. In the early days,

before there was such a thing as mass education in public schools,
children were taught the basic academic skills by tutors, or in very small
school houses. The wealthy hired tutors not only to instruct their children in the necessary skills of reading and writing, but also to provide a
proper moral upbringing.
The hiring of a tutor was considered a very important business. John
Locke, the seventeenth-century English philosopher and educator, described the difficult problem of finding a good tutor who, he insisted,
should have sobriety, temperance, tenderness, diligence, and discretion, qualities he considered as hardly to be found united in persons
that are to be had for ordinary salaries nor easily to be found anywhere.
Of course, the kind of tutors John Locke wrote about, those who
served the aristocracy of pre-industrial times, are not the kind needed
today. The tutoring we need is of a much more limited kind, much like
the person who gives piano lessons.
Yet, even tutors on this limited scale must have certain qualities which
make them successful in their tutoring. If you want to be a good tutor
1

How to Tutor

you should be fond of children, have enormous patience, be affectionate,

and understand the young mind, its eagerness, its curiosity, its tendency
to wander from the difficult problems at hand, and its resistance to required effort. So, it does take considerable skill to teach a child.
The three most important ingredients of good tutoring, however, are
patience, an understanding of the young mind, and a knowledge of the
subject you are teaching.
Children also have very strong egos. Their desire to succeed is very
great, and success in learning is important to their self-esteem. Therefore, they must be taught in very gradual steps, so that success is assured
by the simplicity of what is taught.
Never show impatience if the child does not catch on.
There may be something in the way you are presenting the subject, or
some distraction on the part of the child, or some slowness in the childs
ability to understand what you are driving at. Perhaps the child has not
fully digested the previous lesson. It may even be necessary to go one step
back before you can take the next two steps forward.
The childs self-esteem is as fragile as his constitution. You would not
expect him to carry a heavier weight than his physical strength permitted.
Likewise, you must not expect him to understand something too complex
for his young mind to grasp. And you must not expect him to learn easily or
well if the methods you use are illogical, confusing, or poorly thought out.
In this book we teach the complex by breaking it down into smaller,
simpler parts. That is the method we have used in the programs of instruction. We start with the simplest and most elementary parts, make
sure the child learns them, and proceed from there. In each section of the
book will be found more precise instruction for the subject to be taught.

Who Is Qualified to Be a Tutor?

You do not have to have had formal teaching experience to become a
good tutor. Anyone willing and able to do the job can do it. If you are
a parent with a high-school education, you are eminently qualified to
teach the basic programs in this book to your own childrenprovided
you have the time and patience to do so. Many parents initially lack the
confidence to teach their own children. But once they become familiar

How to Become a Good Tutor

with the basic principles behind the programs and understand how logical and simple each lesson is, they realize that they can indeed tutor.
If you are a high school or college student you may also qualify if
you can follow the instructions in this book, relate well to children, and
understand their learning problems, which may have been caused by
previous faulty teaching.
Retired teachers of both sexes, of course, can make excellent tutors,
provided they discard some of the faulty teaching methods they were
forced to use in their classrooms. If they will follow the simple instructions in this book, they will be able to adapt much of their classroom
experience to the one-on-one tutoring situation.
Lastly, there are many married women with college degrees who, for
one reason or another, do not pursue full-time careers, but have the time,
energy, and desire to offer tutoring services for a few hours a week. For such
women, tutoring can indeed be an excellent way of supplementing the family income as well as performing a valuable, needed service for their community. They too must learn the basic principles behind each subject in
order to become an effective tutor. Simply because a person is well educated
and a good reader does not mean he or she can teach someone to read.
Effective instruction is not acquired from nature. It has to be learned.
No matter how much or how little you earn from tutoring, the expenses you incur can be deducted from your income tax as costs of doing business. Such expenses would include advertising, materials, books,
pens and pencils, paper, slates, phone calls, travel costs to and from your
pupils, laptops used in your tutoring service, CDs and DVDs. If you
tutor in your home and use a room set aside for that purpose, you can
deduct all of the costs of maintaining that room, namely electricity, heat,
and a portion of your rent or mortgage payment.
How do you find children who need to be tutored? In a small community, word of mouth is the best way. A small sign in front of your house,
a short classified ad in the local paper, or a notice on the bulletin board
of a public library, laundromat, or supermarket are some of the ways to
make your services known to the community.
Also, if you have done school teaching in the past, your friends in the
school system might be of some help in locating children who need tutoring. You might even type up a promotional letter explaining that you also
tutor preschoolers and send copies to families and schools in your area.
You might make your services known to womens clubs, the parent-teacher
associations, and service clubs. And, of course, there are the Yellow Pages.

How to Tutor

How much to charge depends on how great the demand is for your
time and the parents ability to pay. You should probably start at the lowest practical fee until your tutoring skills are perfected and your reputation established. By then you should have more requests for your services
than you can handle. You might then be justified in raising your fee.
How long should a tutoring session be? An hour can go by very quickly when the tutoring is going well. Thus, an hour and a quarter, or a half,
might be more productive.

The Art of Tutoring

Like any other art, the art of tutoring is learned in the doing. To be really
good at it requires some special personality traits, skills, and sensitivity.
The one-on-one relationship brings you in direct, personal contact with
the pupil. So you will want the pupil to feel comfortable in your presence. Let the child know that he or she is liked, and that both of you are
going to enjoy the time you spend together.
If the tutoring session is in your home, choose a well-lighted, pleasant
part of the house for the instruction area. Treat the child with courtesy
and respect. All of this will make the child receptive to your instruction
and put him or her at ease.
In most homes, the dining table with two chairs seems to be the best
place to do the tutoring. It gives you room to spread the instruction
materials and elbow room for the childs writing movements. The pupil
should be seated to your right if he or she is right handed, to your left if
left-handed. Instead of a blackboard, use a blank notebook in which to
show the pupil whatever it is you want the pupil to learn.

Flexibility
The instructional materials in this book have been devised so that the
pupil gains the simplest knowledge first and moves on, lesson by lesson,
to the more difficult. But the lessons can be taught with as much flexibility as the situation requires. See what works, and see what doesnt. Each

How to Become a Good Tutor

child is different, and an approach that works well with one child may
not work as well with another.
Each child brings to the tutoring experience a different amount of
knowledge, a different attitude toward learning, and a different attitude
toward the tutor. The expert tutor knows how to adapt his or her teaching style to the personality of the child.

Why Tutoring Succeeds

In the tutoring situation the child is relieved of the problem of competing with others in the classroom. This is important because classroom
mistakes become moments of personal humiliation. While in tutoring, a
mistake is simply pointed out by the tutor and corrected.
Often the pupil wants to make a good impression on the tutor. Anyone who comes for instruction is sensitive to the fact that the tutor is
superior in knowledge and ability, and the pupil is anxious to gain some
of that knowledge and ability.
The child who does not know how to read knows that he lacks a skill
which most children his age have. He is sensitive about his intelligence
and ability to learn. But once he discovers that he can indeed learn, his
attitude about himself changes. And since you are being paid for your
service, do not waste time. Get the child absorbed in the learning process
so that he can see its value.
It is important to pace your instruction according to your pupils ability to learn. And it is equally important to give your pupil an occasional
word of encouragement as he or she makes progress.
If you follow the teaching instructions in this book, your pupils attention will be riveted on the lesson at hand. It is better to give him a
little more of what you think he can absorb than less so that he becomes
accustomed to the process of exerting mental effort.

The Importance of Mental Effort

Although the tutor should try to make learning as interesting, exciting,
and as pleasant as possible, there is no escaping the fact that learning

How to Tutor

requires mental effortmental workand the sooner the child becomes

accustomed to the process of mental work, the sooner he will understand,
appreciate, and enjoy the whole process of intellectual mastery. However,
do not require efforts which are clearly beyond the pupils capacity.
Reading, writing, and arithmetic require the child to master a great
many abstract symbols: the alphabet and the sounds of the language
they stand for; the cursive letters, how they are correctly formed and
connected; and our number system in which we use only ten symbols to
do all of the work. Obviously, such mastery does not occur effortlessly.
But through drill and memorization one can master them. And once the
mind has mastered these fundamental abstractions, it begins to expand
its capacity to handle even greater abstractions.

Expanding the Power of Mind

The mind works in a very remarkable way. It has the power to integrate a
great deal of new knowledge with what it already knows, and the result
is a greatly expanded understanding. The mind seems to have a limitless
ability to absorb knowledge over a long period of time, and this ability
expands with usejust as a muscle will grow larger if it is required to
lift heavier weights.
Weight lifting is probably a very good example of a similar process
which goes on in the brain, namely, the expansion of capacity through
greater exertion and use. If a weight lifter lifts the same light weight a
thousand times, it will not expand his muscle. He can only achieve this
by lifting a much heavier weight to the limits of his capacity. To go beyond his present limit requires an exertion that is painfulno pain, no
gainbut necessary if his capacity is to grow to meet greater demands.
The beauty of the instruction in this book is that the pupil will be able
to see the tangible results of his mental efforts by being able to read easily
and fluently in a relatively short period of time.
The instruction in this book has been designed to give the child a sense
of order in what is being learned. The approach has been to reduce the complex to its simplest parts, so that the child can be led to grasp simple concepts
before moving on to the more difficult. Once the child sees the logic behind
the symbolic systems he must work with, he has taken a giant step toward
intellectual development. Most of the work in mental exertion consists

How to Become a Good Tutor

of understanding concepts. The rest consists of either pure rote memory, or

repeated use of concepts until they become automatic responses.
Teaching a child the basic skills of reading, writing, and calculation
is like teaching him how to swim, or play the piano, or touch type. The
skills to be learned require lots of practice. There is not much difference
between mastering a physical skill and mastering a mental one. Both
require effort and practice. Both use energy. Both have to be taught in
an organized, logical way. Both can be made exciting or dull, depending
on the approach of the teacher.
The process of mastering a physical or mental skill is an exciting one
for the student, for he looks forward to mastery with great anticipation.
Swimming and playing the piano or any other musical instrument will
afford him years of enjoyment and pleasure. Reading, writing, and calculation will provide him years of enjoyment and rewarding activity,
increasing his capacity to earn a good living and providing the kind of
life for himself that he will want.

Testing the Student

A good tutor can easily earn the everlasting gratitude of a youngster who is
having trouble learning in a crowded classroom where his special needs and
problems are ignored. He may have been labeled dyslexic, or reading disabled, or suffering from attention deficit disorder. To find out what the case
may be, have him or her read some text aloud and see if the student leaves
out words that are there, inserts words that arent there, skips words, reads
words backwards, truncates words (reads paper for newspaper or phone for
telephone), or simply cant read a word. A student who makes such errors is
obviously a sight reader who cannot see the phonetic structure of the words
he or she is reading. In other words, the student has to be taught to read
phonetically. So start from the beginning and retrain the reader.

The Mind of the Dyslexic

Children who have been damaged by faulty teaching methods in school
classrooms tend to blame themselves for their learning failure. They are

How to Tutor

in no position to question the instructional methods being used by their

teachers. Thus, they attribute their failure to their own learning deficiency, not the instructors methodology. The schools, of course, tend to
reinforce this view by insisting that there is something wrong with the
child, not the instructional methods. And most parents will accept what
they are told.
Many books have been written by so-called reading experts listing all
of the things wrong with children who fail to learn to read via the prevalent methods being used in the classrooms of America. However, there
are also books describing what is wrong with the teaching methods. The
most famous of them is Dr. Rudolf Fleschs Why Johnny Cant Read
and What You Can Do About It, published in 1955. Dr. Flesch wrote:
The teaching of readingall over the United States, in all the
schools, and in all the textbooksis totally wrong and flies in the
face of all logic and common sense.

It is, of course, possible to undo the damage done by faulty teaching

methods, but it can be very difficult. Any bad habits learned in the first
and second grades are very hard to replace with good ones.
I tutored one third-grade sight reader who found it so painful to give
up his sight-reading habits in favor of phonetic reading that he would
twist and turn in his seat, and at one point burst into tears. But despite
this initial agony, he finally became a good phonetic reader.
A child may come to you with an inordinate fear of failure because
of his classroom experience. But you can assuage that fear by showing
the student how easy it is to learn what you are teaching in small understandable increments.
But it will be useful to have some basic information about the child:
Age. Schools attended. Grade. What reading program was used in the
school? What was he taught at home? Does the child have normal hearing and eyesight?

Why Tutoring Succeeds When

Classroom Teaching Doesnt
Perhaps the most important advantage tutoring has over the classroom
is that the tutor can better guide the attention of his or her pupil than

How to Become a Good Tutor

can the classroom teacher. A tutor can direct the pupils attention to the
particular idea or knowledge to be mastered, whereas in a classroom the
childs attention can wander.
The tutor helps the child focus his attention by being right there beside him. By providing direct verbal instruction, he can elicit the correct responses. In this way the tutor knows immediately if the pupil is
learning what is being taught. In a classroom, a teacher may have to wait
weeks before knowing whether or not the pupils have learned their lessons.
Some students get through high school completely ignorant of concepts they should have learned in the early grades. Children are often too
embarrassed to admit that they lack fundamental knowledge in some
subject areas. They pretend to know when they really dont.
The tutor keeps a close tab on what the child knows and he does not
proceed further until the child firmly grasps the ideas and knowledge
required to move ahead.
Why is the classroom situation so non-conducive to learning? Distractions. The pupils fear of appearing stupid in the competitive situation.
Lack of teacher attention. The need of the teacher to control and manipulate an entire class rather than devote sufficient time to each student.
The fear of appearing stupid and of being ridiculed by ones teacher
and fellow students is very real. In tutoring, that fear is eliminated. The
tutor is not interested in measuring the pupils intelligence, to see how
smart or dumb he is. His interest is in making sure that the pupil masters
each incremental lesson.
The tutor works directly with the mind of his pupil and can sense
when the pupil is learning and when he is not. When the pupil is not
learning, the tutor can immediately find out why, and make whatever
adjustments are necessary. Sometimes understanding does not come all
at once, but in bits and pieces. Eventually the bits and pieces fall into
place and become a magnificent, comprehensible whole. This is how the
learning process works, and the tutor can become intimately aware of the
process taking place in the mind of the pupil right next to him.
In this process, the childs motivation is directed primarily to proving
to himself that he can master a skill, understand a concept, and absorb
knowledge. And with that satisfaction with self will be a sense of gratitude toward the tutor who made all of this possible.

10

How to Tutor

John Holt, in his famous book, How Children Fail, contended that
children failed in the classroom because they are afraid, bored, and confused. He explained:
They are afraid, above all else, of failing, of disappointing or
displeasing the many anxious adults around them, whose limitless
hopes and expectations for them hang over their heads like a cloud.
They are bored because the things they are given and told to do
in school are so trivial, so dull, and make such limited and narrow
demands on the wide spectrum of their intelligence, capabilities,
and talents.
They are confused because most of the torrent of words that
pours over them in school makes little or no sense. It often flatly
contradicts other things they have been told, and hardly ever has
any relation to what they really knowto the rough model of reality that they carry around in their minds.

The tutor can eliminate all three causes of failure. First, he can eliminate the fear of failure by simply proceeding according to the childs own
learning pace; by making sure that the child understands the concepts
imparted to him; by sensing when the child is having difficulty; and by
sometimes taking one step back in order to take the next two steps forward. The tutors sensitivity to a childs learning behavior permits him
not only to catch the child when he is not learning but, through an intimate, constant dialogue between tutor and pupil, permits the child to
catch himself as he begins to understand how the learning process takes
place. All learning is inner dialogue, and the tutor-pupil dialogue is an
externalization of this process. That, alone, makes tutoring a superior
learning experience because the learning process is learned, as well as the
subject matter.
The tutor can also eliminate boredom by making the process of intellectual mastery as exciting and exhilarating as it actually is. The tutor can also eliminate boredom by tapping into the students natural
excitement in gaining intellectual mastery over something. Man has a
God-given inclination to exercise dominion: nothing is more satisfying
to the human mind than achieving and exercising mastery. Its how our
minds are made. God has given us a special place in the universal scheme
of things; the human mind sets us apart from animals. When a child
masters an elementary intellectual skill, its anything but boring to him.

How to Become a Good Tutor

11

The tutor can also eliminate the confusion that besets children in
todays classroom. If his instructional methods are consistent, rational,
and sound, there will be no confusion. The instruction in this book has
been prepared to eliminate the kind of contradictory, senseless instruction which is so much a part of modern elementary pedagogy. We have
written this book specifically to make it possible for the child to circumvent the confusion to which he will be exposed in the classroom. Since
tutoring at this time in our educational history can only supplement the
classroom, we realize that children will be exposed to our contemporary
pedagogical confusion no matter what they learn from a tutor. However,
the tutor can so fortify the child with good learning habits, with an understanding of basic concepts, with a mastery of elementary skills, that
no amount of classroom confusion will hamper the childs continued
progress.
Thus, we see in private tutoring and homeschooling practical alternatives to the classroom situation, alternatives more and more parents will
turn to as more and more tutors offer their services to a public which
badly needs them.

part two

READING
Reading

eading is the most important single skill a child will master during
his entire school career, for on the ability to read depends the de
velopment of everything else. In fact, reading is the beginning of real
intellectual development, and if the child is not taught to read properly,
his entire intellectual development will be handicapped. The reason for
this is quite simple. Language is the vehicle of thought. We formulate all
our concepts in terms of words. If we restricted our thinking and learning only to the words we heard and spoke, our intellectual development
would be quite limited.
The written word, however, is the depository of all humanitys complex thinking, and an individual must have easy access to the world of
written language to be able to increase his own intellectual development.
Thus, the facility with which a person reads can influence the degree of
his intellectual growth. If a child is taught to read via methods which
make reading disagreeable to him, he will turn away from the written
word entirely and deprive himself of mans principle means of intellectual development. This has occurred quite frequently among our func

13

14

How to Tutor

tional illiterates, who have been taught to read by the look-say, or sight,
method.
The extent to which reading instruction has become deficient in our
schools has been the subject of many important books, from Why Johnny
Cant Read, by Rudolf Flesch (published in 1955), to my own book, The
New Illiterates (published in 1973). That the problem should still persist
is an indication of the obstacles that institutions sometimes place in the
way of real progress. Thus the need for this book, which circumvents
these institutional obstacles.
To better understand what is involved in teaching a child or an adult
to read our written language, it would be useful to quickly review the
history of writing. The first writings of early man were not inscriptive
representations of spoken language. They were pictures representing
ideas. The spoken language was used to interpret the pictures, and we
can assume that the interpretations varied from reader to reader and
generation to generation. Undoubtedly traditions grew up around the
interpretations so that there evolved a very close relationship between the
picture and what was said about it.
This earliest form of writing is known as pictography or ideography.
Pictography evolved into hieroglyphics, which was an attempt by way of
picture symbols, ideographs, or characters, to depict spoken language
more accurately. As civilization became more complex and the need for
recording history, religious doctrines, court procedures, and commercial
transactions became more urgent, hieroglyphics more and more corresponded to spoken language. Some characters represented whole words,
others represented parts of words. Anyone who wanted to write had to
learn the meanings of thousands of characters and symbols. However,
since hieroglyphics were of pictographic or ideographic origin, they
tended to incorporate many of the inaccuracies and ambiguities inherent
in such a writing system. Eventually some hieroglyphics went so far as
to include phonetic clues to the actual spoken words they represented.
But the hieroglyphics still had to be learned by memory, character by
character, and it was a laborious, tedious task. Only scholars and priests
became expert users of hieroglyphics.
Finally, because the need was so urgent, someone invented a way of
directly representing spoken language in as accurate a manner as possible, doing away entirely with the hieroglyphic system. He studied the
sounds of the spoken language, isolated them, and designated symbols,
or letters, to stand for each. This set of sound symbols was called the

Reading

15

alphabet, after the names of the first two letters in the system, alpha and
beta in Greek or alef and beth in Hebrew.
According to Stanislas Dehaene, author of Reading in the Brain: The
New Science of How We Read, The first traces of an alphabetic system,
called Proto-Sinaitic, date from 1700 B.C. and were uncovered in the
Sinai peninsula, close to the turquoise mines first worked by the Pharaohs of the Middle and New Kingdom. The writing system borrowed
the shapes of several Egyptian characters, but used them to represent a
Semitic language. Signs no longer referred to meaning, but to speech
sounds alone, and in fact solely to consonants. In this way, the inventory of written symbols were dramatically reduced: two dozen signs were
enough to represent all the existing speech sounds with perfect regularity.
In other words, the invention of the alphabet permitted human beings to do much more with much less. But what is most curious about
alphabetic writing is that it was first used in the Sinai where Moses led
the Israelites out of Egypt. Moses, as we know, was raised by an Egyptian princess and undoubtedly learned to read Egyptian hieroglyphics.
According to Dehaene, the new alphabetic writing system borrowed
the shapes of several Egyptian characters, but used them to represent a
Semitic language. Is it possible that Moses invented the alphabet and
applied it to the language spoken by the Hebrews?
What we do know is that the Ten Commandments, which Moses
brought down from Mount Sinai, were written in alphabetic writing, not
in Egyptian hieroglyphics. So there is an important spiritual dimension
to the invention of alphabetic writing, which later permitted the Hebrew
sages to write the Five Books of Moses. Apparently, alphabetic writing
was then picked up by the Phoenicians who used it mainly for commercial purposes and then by the Greeks who used the system for writing
philosophical dialogues, histories, and dramas.
What is equally important about the invention of the alphabet is that
it shifted the reading process from the space-oriented right-brain hemisphere to the left brain, the center of language learning. The human
being has the unique ability to develop language, which no other species
has. Spoken language is a purely human faculty.
The superiority of the alphabetic method of writing was clearly demonstrated, and all civilized nations in the Western world eventually adopted this method of writing. The advantages of the alphabetic method
over hieroglyphics were obvious. It permitted a greater precision in the

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How to Tutor

recording of spoken language and therefore a greater precision in conveying thought. It required much less reliance on pure memory. The letters of the alphabet were much easier and faster to learn than hieroglyphics. Whereas before, only scholars and priests (who spent years learning
the meanings of thousands of hieroglyphic symbols) were able to become
expert readers and writers, now it was possible for anyone of average
intelligence and with a little instruction to learn how to read. After the
invention of the alphabet, learning to read consisted of mastering the
sound-symbol system and acquiring a facility to translate a running in
scription into the spoken language it represented.
The break with the hieroglyphic tradition was important for the
advance of civilization. It took heathen mysticism and occult symbolism out of writing. It removed writing from the exclusive domain of
the scholar-priest class. It made writing easier and reading faster and
more accurate. This was vitally important for the spiritual development
of man because it made it possible to put Gods Word into a mode of
writing which could be read by anyone who learned to read. It was also
important for mans intellectual development; because it was now so easy
to write, men could record their thoughts which other men could then
read with accuracy. This greatly facilitated the recording of ideas and the
transfer of ideas from one mind to another. Thus, the alphabet accelerated intellectual exchange, and with it came an accelerated intellectual
growth.
It is important to realize that all thinking is conducted in terms of
the spoken language. Our thinking is internal dialogue, while our discussions with our fellow men are external dialogues. All thinkers and
scientists express their ideas in terms of spoken words which are then
transcribed into sound-symbols on paper. These written words are then
translated back into spoken words by the reader.
There are some people who believe that written language, because it is
more carefully expressed and stylistically polished, can no longer be considered the same as spoken language. This may be true from a stylistic
point of view. But from the practical and functional point of view involving the process of transcribing spoken words into their sound-symbol
representations, there is no difference whatever between the spoken and
written languages. All writing must be articulated back into spoken language in order to be understoodwhether it is done by so-called silent
reading, in which the inner voice speaks to the individual, or by reading

Reading

17

aloud. Thinking is internalized dialogue, and reading is listening to the

thoughts of someone else.
Thus, the ability to read consists of translating written words accurately into their spoken forms. The ability to write consists of transcribing spoken words into written sound-symbols. The alphabet provides us
with the set of sound symbols to be used in this two-way process.
How old should a child be before he is ready to learn to read? Old
enough to understand what you are doing. As soon as a child has developed a sufficient speaking skill he should be ready to learn to read.
A childs vocabulary indicates to what extent he has learned the spoken language used around him. Deaf children, who cannot hear spoken
language, are also born with a language faculty. They can be taught to
read by a variety of techniquessign language or articulation. Thus, if
a normal child can jabber away intelligibly, he has already expanded the
use of his mind considerably and is ready to learn to read.
The childs speaking vocabulary, in fact, is a very good indicator of his
intelligence. Listen to the child very carefully. Use a cassette recorder to
record his conversation. Make an inventory of his speaking vocabulary.
You will be surprised how many words he uses. You can further test his
vocabulary by pointing to parts of his anatomy and asking him to name
them, or to objects in the room. You can discuss concepts with him
to test his understanding of abstraction. The childs mind expands its
knowledge about life all around him on the order of a geometric progression. He uses one, two, and three-syllable words every day. Obviously,
a mind which is aware of so much around him, with a capacity which is
expanding daily, is ready to learn to read. And every child looks forward
to learning to read. It represents to him a tremendous step forward.
When starting out, you tell the child that he is going to learn how to
read. Before he can, however, you tell him that he must first learn the
alphabet. It is the first necessary step on the road to reading. You explain
what the alphabet is: a set of letters that stand for speech sounds. You explain the meaning of a sound-symbol system. Thus, he will understand
that learning to read is a process which takes time.
This is the intelligent approach. A child who has learned to speak several thousand words all by himself is involved in a continuous learning
process and is quite an intelligent human being. A child of four or five
who has learned to speak several thousand words all by himself is demonstrating the natural intelligence he was born with, a natural intelligence which, in normal children, is so strong and assertive that it permits

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How to Tutor

learning to take place with little conscious effort. But one should not fall
into the trap of believing that no conscious effort is made in learning
ones first speaking vocabulary. Children make very real efforts to correlate what they see and what they hear with what they say. However,
the method they use is trial and error, with the correct responses being
confirmed by everyday experience and use.
Obviously, if you are going to teach anyone to read English, which is
an alphabetic system of writing, you must teach him the sound-symbol
system used in English. In addition, you must give him enough practice
in using that system so that he can read any writing he sees with complete ease and understanding.
There is only one problem with the English writing system. Because
of the fact that we use twenty-six letters to represent about forty-four
speech sounds, and because English has been enriched by the invasions
of other languages, our writing system has a large number of irregularities and inconsistencies. Therefore, it must be taught in as orderly
and logical a way as possible, starting with the most regular aspects of
the sound-symbol system and progressing into the most irregular. Since
even the irregularities become regular once they are learned (regular in
the sense that they never change once learned) there really is no great
problem in learning to read English writing. If the approach is logical
and well organized, any child can learn to read English with no great
problem. This has been proven by centuries of experience with millions
of children.
Unfortunately, in our country, where our alphabetic writing system
has been taught hieroglyphically for the last sixty years, our children
have had incredible reading problems. The problems have arisen only
because of faulty teaching methods. There is nothing wrong with the
children. There is a great deal wrong with reading instruction as presently practiced in our schools.
Thus, we have prepared this book for the tutor who wants to teach
reading in the proper phonetic manner. No child need be deprived of
learning how to read his alphabetic writing system alphabetically. This
primer was written for his benefit.
Teaching a child to read an alphabetic writing system is not a difficult
task, but it does require three basic elements: time, patience, and organization. Since learning to read consists of first learning to master the
English sound-symbol system, it will take time to achieve such mastery.
How much time? How long would it take an adult to master the Morse

Reading

19

code or Pittman shorthand with a working proficiency? It would depend

on how readily he picked up the skills and how often he practiced them.
For the child, learning the sound-symbol system can have its difficulties. He is not aware that his speech sounds can be isolated and that symbols can be used to represent them. Yet this is what he must be taught.
So we start by first making him aware of what symbols areespecially
the alphabet letters. We teach him the alphabet. We also teach him to
hear the sounds he makes. This is known as phonemic awareness. We
teach him to distinguish one sound from another. Then we teach him
to match particular sounds with particular letters, so that when he sees
them he also hears them. This is important, for the child should be able
to translate into sound what he sees in writing.
There is another aspect to the learning of the sound-symbol system
which can be an important part of a childs education. In learning the
sound-symbol system, the child is performing an important and difficult
intellectual task. He is learning a set of abstract symbols and he is learning the logic whereby these symbols are used. To a child this can be an
enormously exciting intellectual revelation. He is learning far more than
merely how to read. He is learning about a system of abstract symbols
and how they can be logically used for very practical purposes. Thus, he
learns about the practical uses of abstraction. This can put him firmly
on the road to intellectual development by helping him understand the
practical value of an abstract system of symbolssomething which will
also be useful to him in understanding mathematics.
Therefore, it is important to teach the sound-symbol system in such a
manner that the child derives all of the intellectual benefits which mastery of the system can earn him. A child of four, five, or six may not learn
all of this in the terms we state it, but he does learn something about
logic, order, and their place in the learning process. He learns a great deal
about the process of learning while learning.
Most modern reading instruction books used in the schools do just
the opposite. They keep the sound-symbol system either a total secret
or pretend that it doesnt exist. They bury the alphabetic principle in
a deluge of pictures, stories, and totally irrelevant activities. Then they
make of written language something so complicated and diffi cult, that
the child comes to the conclusion that learning to read is simply beyond
his poor intellectual means. Other instruction books teach the soundsymbol system in illogical bits and pieces, combining such instruction

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How to Tutor

with hieroglyphic concepts about word recognition. The result is a confusing mess for the young mind.
The instruction in this book teaches the child the sound-symbol system very thoroughly and very systematically. When he has learned it,
he may well understand why men consider the alphabet the single most
important step in mans intellectual development.
Some teachers think that children do not have the capacity to understand anything as sophisticated as the sound-symbol system. But we
know from centuries of experience that children have no trouble learning
the alphabet or understanding the concept that letters stand for sounds.
This has been so since the days of the ancient Greeks. There is no reason
why it should be any different or more difficult in modern America.
So we start first by teaching the child the alphabet: the shapes of the
letters and their individual names. We teach him to recognize the twenty-six letters in their capital and lower-case forms in alphabetical order.
And we do not rush the child. We take as much time as is needed. As
he learns to recognize and name the letters, he also learns to print them
and write them. It is important for the child to be able to both name the
letter and print it. We are teaching him a sound-symbol system which is
to be used to transcribe spoken words as well as to read them. He should
start out knowing that it is a two-way process and that he must learn to
use the sound-symbol system in both ways.
There are many ways to make learning the alphabet delightful for a
child. There is the well-known alphabet song, which many children learn
easily. Then the alphabet can be taught as a rhyming poem:

a b c d A B C D
e f g E F G
h i j k H I J K
l m n o p L M N O P
q r s Q R S
t u v T U V
wW
x y z X Y Z

Note that w is on a line all by itself. That is because w is made up

of three syllables: dou-ble-you. Tell the child that there are two forms
of the alphabet: capital letters and lower-case letters. The child does not
have to know the alphabet perfectly before you start teaching the letter
sounds. By learning the sounds of the letters he will perfect his knowl-

Reading

21

edge of the alphabet. We teach the alphabet in alphabetical order because: (1) it is easier to learn it that way, (2) there is no good reason to do
it in any other way, (3) he will have to know the letters alphabetically in
order to be able to use a dictionary.
Admittedly, this may be a lot for a child to understand. But as he
learns the alphabet, the meaning of what you have been telling him will
dawn on him, and that moment of understanding on his part will be his
first real intellectual insight. It is an exciting occasion for a young mind
and one that will give him a tremendous sense of satisfaction.
John Holt, in How Children Fail, gives an interesting description of
this learning phenomenon and what happens to it in school:
To a very great degree, school is a place where children learn to
be stupid. A dismal thought, but hard to escape. Infants are not
stupid. Children of one, two, or even three throw the whole of
themselves into everything they do. They embrace life, and devour
it; it is why they learn so fast, and are such good company. Listlessness, boredom, apathythese all come later. Children come to
school curious; within a few years most of that curiosity is dead, or
at least silent. Open a first or third grade to questions and you will
be deluged; fifth graders say nothing. They either have no questions
or will not ask them Curiosity, questions, speculationthese
are for outside school, not inside.

We therefore approach the teaching of reading on the premise that the

child wants no secrets kept concerning the process he is going to master,
even though the information may seem to be, at the moment, beyond
his understanding. Children at age four, five and six are forever asking
questions. They are very inquisitive, and there is no reason not to give as
accurate an answer as one can to any question.
There are some teachers of reading who believe that children should
be taught the sounds of the letters before teaching them the letter names.
But this makes no sense at all. Everything and everyone has a name.
Knowing the letter names makes it easier to identify the letters themselves.
In teaching your child the letters, teach him to print or draw them in
capital and lower-case forms. When he starts to learn the letter sounds
and words, he can start learning to write in cursive with the letters
joined. The primer on writing can be used in conjunction with the reading primer for this purpose. Such printing and writing practice makes

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How to Tutor

the child learn the shapes of the letters more thoroughly. Also, he must
get used to the idea that reading and writing are inseparable skills. One
goes with the other. When you learn the Morse code you learn how to
send messages as well as receive them. When a stenographer learns shorthand, she learns how to take dictation as well as read it back. It is the
same with the alphabet. The inventor meant it to serve as a way of writing or putting down the spoken word on paper as well as a way of reading
or translating back into speech the written words on paper.
Thus, reading and writing, or decoding and encoding as the linguists
prefer to call it, are two parts of one skill, and should be learned simultaneously. The learning of one reinforces the other. In addition, it teaches
the child that the alphabet is to be used as a means of conveying his
thoughts in writing to others as well as a way of reading the thoughts of
others. It is important that he be an active sender of messages as well as
a receiver. He is a talker and listener, not just a listener, and he should be
able to transcribe his talk into written words with ease. Thus, we start
writing from the very beginning.
There are a number of pleasant and playful ways in which the child
can be taught to recognize different letters. He can cut letters out of
magazine and newspaper advertisements and paste them on the blank
pages of an artists padeach page devoted to a particular letter. This
can be his own personal alphabet book, and hunting for new letters to
add to his collection can teach him to recognize the letter shapes more
quickly. If he asks about words, point to the different letters in the words
and tell him that he will be able to read the words after he is taught the
letter names and then their sounds. Tell him, You will be able to read
any word you see after you know all the letters and their sounds.
No pictures should be used in conjunction with teaching the alphabet. The picture the child should be looking at is the letter itself, not an
apple, or a ball, or an elephant. Pictures are a distraction which can only
delay learning the sound-symbol principle. We make this point because
shortly after the child knows the letters, he will be taught to identify
them with speech sounds, and this is very crucial. A letter is a symbol of
a sound. It is not the symbol of anything else. The letter is supposed to
stimulate his mouth, lips and tongue to shape themselves into particular
sounds. It is not supposed to make him think of an apple or an elephant.
He must translate groups of letters into speech, and he will do this more
readily the better he associates the letters with sounds.

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23

You may ask, how can the child learn the letter names without some
sort of picture to remind him of it, such as a bumble-bee for B, etc. If the
child is taught the letters in alphabetical order, he learns them through
constant repetition. This learning will be reinforced in the letter-sound
phase, in which he uses the letters constantly. Also, the alphabet song is
an excellent way to teach the letter names. It is purely a sound approach
and requires no pictures as intermediaries.

Teaching the Letter Sounds

Assuming that the child has learned the alphabet, we are now ready to
teach him the letter sounds. His knowledge of the alphabet does not
have to be letter perfect before we move on to this next phase, for the
simple reason that the child will learn the letters better as he uses them.
However, be sure that he knows the alphabet well enough to proceed to
the next phase.
When you are ready to teach the letter sounds, you tell the child:
Now we are going to learn the sounds each letter stands for so that you
can put the letters to work for you. You will be able to put the letters
together to make words, and you will be able to read words by knowing
the sounds the letters stand for. This is the essence of what you want to
convey to the child: that letters stand for speech sounds, and that the
letters in a written word tell you how to say it.
In teaching the child the letter sounds, we must always remember
that the alphabet was originally invented by an adult who spoke clearly
and heard clearly and could distinguish between the fine differences of
speech sounds, between the t and the d, between s and z, m and n, b and
p. But a childs attunement to speech sounds is quite different. His words
run into each other, and he may talk child-talk or baby-talk. So the approach must be scaled down to the childs ability to grasp the knowledge
you wish to impart.
Take as much time as you need to do the job. There is no rush. A four,
five, or six-year old has all the time in the world in which to learn how
to read. What is important is not how fast he learns but how thoroughly
and accurately. Remember, there are no shortcuts to mastery. When the
child learned his own speaking vocabulary, he set no time limit on how
many new words he had to learn per day. He learned as he went along.

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How to Tutor

In learning to understand an abstract set of sound symbols and how they

are used, we must expect that some children will learn all this faster than
others. It does not matter how fast a child learns to master this set of abstractions. The important thing is that he can and will master it if given
the proper instruction and enough time in which to do it.
As we have pointed out, the alphabet is perhaps the greatest single intellectual development of man. The sound-symbol system is an exciting
piece of work, exciting to learn when you know that it is going to open
up the entire world of literature to you and permit you to express your
own thoughts in a durable, lasting way. How do you convey such intellectual excitement to the young mind? By being excited about it yourself.
Did you know that every word you speak can be put down on paper?
you tell the child. Thats exciting. And thats what you are going to learn
to doto put down on paper every sound you make with your voice.
By telling the child this, youve established the concept in his mind
of being able to represent speech sounds on paper. This is the association
you want to establish in his mindthat letters on paper stand for sounds
which he can make with his voice, and that the sounds he makes can be
put down on paper by way of letters representing them.
The following sequence of instruction has been devised to accomplish
what we want: an orderly understanding of the relationship between letters and speech sounds; an ability on the part of the child to hear the
differences in spoken words, and to translate them into written symbols.
Before proceeding into lesson one, however, a short word about the
special problem our written language poses. While our written language
is about eighty-five percent consistent in its sound-symbol correspondences, there are enough irregularities to warrant a very careful step-bystep procedure to minimize possible confusion. Since the childs own
speaking vocabulary has a large number of irregularly spelled words, we
can make use of only a few of them in the early stages of instruction.
That is why the child should be told that he is learning how to read, and
that he will be considered a reader when he can read and write any word
in his speaking vocabulary.
In the course of learning the sound-symbol system, however, the child
will learn a lot of new words simply because these words fall into the
most common and regular spelling families and best illustrate the alphabetic principle. They will represent a considerable expansion of his own
vocabulary. After the child has shown that he can read these words, it is
not necessary to spend too much time on their meaning just yet, since he

Reading

25

will not be using these words in his own speaking vocabulary for a while.
Emphasis on comprehension and meaning should not begin until after
the child has mastered the entire sound-symbol system and can read and
write with ease every word in his own speaking vocabulary. When this
is done, the emphasis can then be shifted to the comprehension of new
words, the general expansion of the childs vocabulary, and the general
appreciation of literature.
The plan of instruction is quite simple, based on the special characteristics of our sound-symbol system. We have forty-four sounds in our
language, twenty-one of which are vowel sounds. Since there are only six
vowel letters in our alphabet (a, e, i, o, u, and part-time y) which must
represent twenty-one vowel sounds, most of the difficult work in learning
to read is in mastering the vowel-symbol correspondences. They are best
learned in spelling family groups. So we begin with the five short vowels
in combination with the consonants. The spelling patterns in these short
vowel groups are the simplest and most regular in our written language.
They are easy to learn and they teach the child the basic principles of the
sound-symbol system. From there we move into the various consonant
blends of our language. Finally, we learn the rest of the vowel soundsymbol correspondences with all of the important irregularities, such as
silent letters, archaic spelling patterns, and irregular spellings.
By the time the child has completed his final lesson he should be able
to read any word he encounters. He may mispronounce some of the
words he has never heard. But this is understandable. It should never
be forgotten that the written language is merely a shadow of the spoken
language and that the spoken language is ones basic guide to the pronunciation of the written word, regardless of spelling. In most cases the
written word provides sufficient indication of stress and accent. But in
multisyllabic words, the readers knowledge of the spoken language becomes an indispensable requisite for correct pronunciation. The dictionary, of course, helps us determine how an unknown word is pronounced.
However, a child learns it better by hearing it spoken. Thus, pronounce
all the words clearly.

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How to Tutor

A Note on How to Use the Instruction

It should be noted that the division of the instruction into numbered lessons is for the sake of convenience and to provide a guide to the proper
sequence of skill acquisition. The tutor can cover as many lessons as he
feels the pupil can absorb in any one session. If the tutor feels that he
has gone too fast, he can always go back a lesson. Each lesson represents
additional material to be mastered or a review of what has already been
learned. The instructions in each lesson are not to be considered rigid
and inflexible. They should be used as a guide to teaching the material
in each lesson. The tutor may discover a more effective way to convey the
same material to the pupil according to the pupils particular response.
We wish to encourage the tutor to use his or her imagination, experience,
and judgment in making the material of each lesson understandable to
the pupil. Do not be rigid and inflexible in your approach. If the pupil
responds easily and readily to the instruction as given by the text, that
is great. But if he doesnt, that does not mean that the child is stupid or
even slow. It may mean that he cannot quite grasp the concept being
taught, and that the instruction is not clear to him. In that case try a
slightly different approach, or go back to the point where he does understand and try again.
Above all, always maintain a spirit of patience, good humor, and a
willingness to find the right path to the childs understanding. Each
one of us learns in a slightly different way. The tutors job is to find out
how each pupil learns best. That is the essence of tutoring: to tailor the
method to suit the child. Since no single book of instruction can possibly
be made to suit every child, the tutor must use his special insights into a
particular pupils learning behavior to modify or bend that instruction
to suit the child. However, this book makes clear that the only road to
reading proficiency is through a thorough mastery of the sound-symbol
system. This is the goal the tutor must always keep in mind when modifying the instruction. This goal must not be abandoned, no matter how
slow the child may be in catching on to the sound-symbol principle.
Once the child grasps the principle, his progress will be rapid. Remember, there is no reason to place arbitrary time limits on learning. The
child will learn if you take the time and have the patience.

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27

L esson 1: Start by telling the child that you are now going to teach him
the sounds the letters stand for. Lets start with the first sound. Now
listen to the sound I make. Make a short a sound. Did you hear that
sound? Make it again, and ask the child to repeat it after you. That
sound is not a word all by itself, but you hear it and say it often in many
words. Can you say it again? After the child repeats the short a sound
and hears you repeat it, print the letter a on the blackboard or on the
sheet of paper in front of the child. The letter a stands for the sound
you just made. It is called the short a sound. Now I am going to say five
words with that sound in it, words that you use every day: am, an, as, at,
ax. Print them in lower case letters under the a in a straight line across,
and say them again. Give examples of how each word is used in a spoken
sentence, so that the pupil understands that they are words. A word is a
unit of speech that has meaning. The short a sound all by itself doesnt
mean anything. But a sound that means something is a word. Am, an,
as, at, ax are all words because they have meaning.
Now each of these words has two letters in it. Can you name the
letters? Have the child spell each word, saying the word after he spells
it. Now if the words each have two letters, and each letter stands for a
sound, how many sounds do you think each word has? Repeat the word
am slowly. Write and say the short a sound; then write and say the word
am just below it. Do you hear the difference between and am? When
we say am we add another sound to the . What is the sound we added
to the in the word am? Say the m sound. Did you hear it? Can you
say it? After the child says the m sound tell him that the letter m stands
for the m sound. So if we want to write the word am we must write a-m,
because these are the letters that stand for those sounds.
Repeat the procedure for an, as, at, ax. In this instance teach the s
as soft s. Just as the vowel letters represent more than one sound, some
consonants also have variant sounds. But at this stage, we are teaching
only the sounds used in the words presented to the child. Have the child
print these words, say them, spell them, and write them. Make sure he
understands that each word has two sounds and that he can match the
right sound with the right letter. Point out how the name of each letter,
except A in this instance, gives him a hint of the sound each letter stands
for. Exaggerate the sounds so the child can hear them distinctly and
learn to recognize them when heard.
When you are convinced that the child knows these letter sounds
thoroughly, tell him that there are two kinds of letters in the alphabet

How to Tutor

28

vowels and consonants. A is a vowel and m, n, s, t, and x are consonants.

The other vowels are e, o, and u. All the rest are consonants. Explain
that the vowels are the most powerful letters in the alphabet, because
you cant have a word without one. Consonants must always have vowels
with them. They can never stand alone. You neednt elaborate at this
point. Suffice it merely to establish the fact that there are two classes of
letters: vowels and consonants.
By now the child has learned a great deal. He is beginning to hear
words with a greater awareness of their different sounds, and he has seen
how these different sounds are represented on paper by alphabet letters.
He sees that the letters on paper are printed or written from left to right
in the same sequence as they are spoken. The five words can also be
printed on cards and flashed to the pupil in short drills to help him develop quick written-word-spoken-word association.
L esson 2: Review all of the material taught in lesson one. When that
is done, arrange the words am, an, as, at, ax on top of the page or blackboard and tell the child that you are going to make some new words for
him. Directly under am write Sam, under an write man, under as, has,
under at, sat and under ax, tax. It should look as follows:
am
Sam

an
man

as
has

at
sat

ax
tax

Thus, weve used the consonants the child already knows, added the
h, and expanded our written vocabulary to ten words. (All of these words
are in the childs speaking vocabulary. If he is unfamiliar with the word
tax, explain it.) Ask the child to listen to each three-letter word and to see
if he can hear the three sounds in each word. Start with the short a as the
first sound, expand it to am by adding the second sound m, expand it to
Sam by adding the third sound S as the beginning of the word. Explain
that we use a capital S in the word Sam because it is a proper name and
all proper names begin with capital letters. Repeat this procedure with
the other words. With the word has identify the sound the letter h stands
for. Now tell the child that he knows enough written words so that he
can read his first sentences. Write:
Sam has an ax. Sam sat.

Reading

29

Tell the child that a sentence begins with a capital letter, whether the
first word is a name or not, and that it ends with a period.
By now the child should begin to understand the principle behind
word building, how each letters power is used in writing words. Review
the consonant sounds: m, n, s, t, x, h. Now use the h to create ham under
Sam, hat under sat. Write the sentence: Sam has ham. See if the child
can read it. When the child is thoroughly acquainted with these twelve
words, can write them, read them, and spell them, introduce the consonant d by changing man to Dan and Sam to dam, explaining what a dam
is. Point out that Dan is written with a capital D because it is a proper
name. Introduce the consonant w by adding wax under tax.
Also drill all the words on flash cards to help develop quick response.
L esson 3: Review and consolidate what the child has learned up to now.
He has been introduced to the following consonants: m, n, s, t, x, h, d,
and w. He can read the following words:
am

an

as

at

ax

Sam

man

has

sat

tax

ham

Dan

hat

wax

dam
Dictate the following sentences to the child and see how well he can
write them out. Tell him to make sure that the first word in his sentence
starts with a capital letter and that the sentence ends with a period:
Sam has ham.
Dan sat.
Dan has wax.
Sam has an ax.

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30

L esson 4: Ask the child if he can hear the difference between the words
an and and. Give some examples of the use of and in such phrases as you
and I, he and she, mother and father, knife and fork, etc. Ask the child
if he can hear the additional sound at the end of and. Write and for the
child and ask him to spell it. Ask him to name the letter which stands
for the sound at the end of the word. Point out how the two consonant
sounds, nd, blend together. Write: Sam and Dan, man and ham, tax and
wax. Let the child read them. Now write the word and and put the letter
h in front of it, and ask the child if he can figure out what new word you
have written: hand. Put an s in front of and and explain how it becomes
sand. Introduce the consonant l by adding it to and to make land. Ask
the child if he can identify the sound the l stands for. Now you can play a
game and see how many sentences the child can write with all the words
he now can read:
am

an

as

at

ax

and

Sam

man

has

sat

tax

hand

ham

Dan

hat

wax

land

dam

sand

Here are a few suggested sentences. Explain that when a sentence is

in the form of a question, we put a question mark at the end of it instead
of a period:
Dan has an ax.
Has Dan an ax?
Sam has ham.
Has Sam ham?
Dan has land and sand.
Has Dan sand?
Sam sat.

Reading

31

Dan sat.
Introduce the following new words and show the child how they
relate to the words he already knows: tan, mat, Nat, Max. Define the
words he is unfamiliar with.
The child has already learned the sound of the letter d with the words
Dan, and, etc. Now introduce him to the word ad, defining it as in
want ad, and show him how by using the consonant letter sounds he
already knows he should be able to read such words as dad, had, lad, sad,
Tad. Make up practice sentences if you feel the child needs additional
work in learning these new words. Also, use short flash-card drills to
develop and reinforce automatic written-word-spoken-word response.
By now the child has learned the sound-symbol correspondences of
the short vowel a and the consonants d, h, l, m, n, s, t, w, x, and the consonant blend nd. The child by now has grasped how the sound-symbol
principle works or he is in the process of doing so. Some children catch
on faster than others. If he does not catch on as yet, there is no reason
to be concerned. The sound-symbol principle will be demonstrated over
and over again in the lessons to follow, and at some point he will grasp it.
Also, do not be concerned if the child cannot complete all the material
in one lesson during one session. Take as much time for any one lesson
as is necessary to complete the material. If, on the other hand, the child
progresses rapidly through the lesson, you may go on to the next without
waiting.
L esson 5: In this lesson we will introduce the child to most of the
other consonant letter sounds. Use as much time as is necessary to cover
this material. Remember, the division of the instruction into lessons has
nothing to do with time. It is simply a convenient way to provide a logical and orderly sequence of skill acquisition. Therefore, the material in
any one lesson may be covered in as many sessions as may be necessary.
Introduce the child to the consonant b. Ask the child, What is this
letter? When he gives you its name tell him that now he is going to learn
what its sound is. Write the words: bad, ban, bat, band in a line. Say the
words and ask the child if he can identify the sound which the letter b
stands for at the beginning of these words. If the child has trouble isolating the buh sound, say it for him. Simply ask him if he hears the b
sound when you say the words. The sound he hears is the sound the letter

32

How to Tutor

stands for. If he can reproduce that sound in isolation it is an indication

that he is learning the sounds quickly. If not, say the sound for him and
continue the lesson. Then write dab, lab, nab, tab in a line, say them and
ask the child if he can identify the sound the letter b stands for at the end
of the words. Define the words when discussing them.
This same general procedure should be followed in teaching the
sounds of the other consonant letters as they are introduced. Take as
much time as is needed in teaching the sound of each letter. Introduce
consonant c with the words: cab, cad, can, cat. Ask the child to identify
the sound at the beginning of these words which the c stands for. Next,
introduce consonant f with the words: fab, fad, fan, fat. In teaching these
words, take time to explain what they mean. Fab is the name of a household detergent for which he may have seen commercials on television. If
his mother has a box of Fab at home, he will be able to read its name. A
fad, you can explain, is a style or hobby that many people are interested
in for a short time. Give the example of the hoola-hoop fad. This word is
obviously not in the childs speaking vocabulary, and he may not entirely
understand its meaning. But he should be able to read it on the basis of
what he knows about letters and the sounds they stand for. Words like
fad should be treated almost like nonsense syllables. Their value at this
point is in giving the child practice in learning the letter sounds. At this
point, meaning is secondary to the technical skill of readingtranslating sound-symbols into speech. Words like fan and fat are in the childs
speaking vocabulary and he will enjoy seeing what they look like in their
written counterparts.
Introduce consonant g with the words: gab, gag, gas. Define the words.
With the word gag the child has the opportunity to learn the g sound in
initial and final positions. It should be noted that in addition to learning
the letter sounds, the child is also expanding his vocabulary. Make the
discussion of each new word as interesting as possible. Next, introduce
consonant j with: jab, jam, Jan. Then introduce consonant p with the
words: pad, Pam, pan, pat. Explain that the reason why Pam has a capital
P is because it is a proper name. Next, introduce consonant r with: ram,
ran, rat. Following this, introduce consonant v with the words: Van and
vat. Explain that Van is a name, but that the word van is a truck. Then
introduce consonant y with: yam, yap. With the word yap teach the child
the p sound in the final position, since this is the first word he has had
ending with p. Finally, introduce z with: zag.

Reading

33

With the completion of this material, the child will have learned the
sound-symbol correspondences of consonants b, c, d, f, g, h, j, l, m, n, p,
r, s, t, v, w, x, y, z. Do not be concerned if the childs knowledge of every
letter sound is not perfect. He will get plenty of practice in learning the
letter sounds as we take up the other vowels.
These lessons can be made additionally interesting by making the
learning of the new words exciting. With the knowledge the child already has, the world of alphabet letters and words is beginning to make
a little more sense to him. He will probably look more carefully at the
cereal boxes on the breakfast table or the signs around him to see what
words he can recognize.
L esson 6: Review. The child has now covered the short a sound in combination with consonants: b, c, d, f, g, h, j, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, z,
plus the final consonant blend nd. His reading vocabulary now includes
the following lists of rhyming words:
ad

am

an

and

as

bad

dam

ban

band

gas

cad

ham

can

hand

has

dad

jam

Dan

land

fad

Pam

fan

sand

had

ram

Jan

lad

Sam

man

mad

yam

pan

pad

ran

sad

tan

Tad

Van

at

ax

cab

gag

bat

Max

dab

zag

cat

tax

Fab

yap

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34

fat

wax

gab

hat

jab

mat

lab

Nat

nab

pat

tab

rat
sat
vat
The above lists can be expanded to include the following rhyming
words, which can be learned by the child with the skills he already has:
cap

bag

Al

gap

hag

Cal

lap

lag

gal

map

nag

Hal

nap

rag

pal

rap

sag

Sal

sap

tag

Val

tap

wag

All these words can also be arranged alphabetically to illustrate more

graphically to the child the sounds of the consonants in the initial position:
ad

bad

cab

dab

Fab

Al

bag

cad

dad

fad

am

ban

Cal

dam

fan

an

band

cap

Dan

fat

and

bat

cat

Reading

35

as
at
ax
gab

had

jab

lab

mad

gag

fag

jam

lad

man

gal

Hal

Jan

lag

map

gap

ham

land

mat

gas

hand

lap

Max

has
hat
nab

pad

rag

sad

tab

nag

pal

ram

sag

Tad

nap

Pam

ran

Sal

tag

Nat

pat

rap

Sam

tan

rat

sand

tap

sap

tax

sat
Val

wag

yam

van

wax

yap

zag

vat
If the child needs additional practice with these words, an endless
number of simple sentences can be made from them. The child will get
plenty of additional practice with the consonant sounds while learning
the other vowel sounds. Therefore do not linger too long on these exercises if the child in your judgment has mastered the material sufficiently
to move on.

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36

L esson 7: Explain to the child that so far he has learned only regular
words, and that now he is going to learn an irregular word. Explain that
some written words are not pronounced exactly as they are spelled. The
reason for this is that many years ago the word was pronounced differently. The pronunciation has changed but not the spelling. One such
word is was. Write the word was. Show how it is spelled to rhyme with
as and has, but that it is pronounced was (woz). Do not write woz for
the child since he is not yet familiar with the short o.* Merely write was
but pronounce it as it should be pronounced. This inconsistency will not
trouble the child. It should be explained in a simple matter-of-fact way
without any fuss. It should be noted that the only inconsistency is in the
sound of the vowel a, not the other two letters. Also, this irregular word
will relieve the monotony of the short a words. Here are a few suggested
sentences illustrating the meaning of the word and its spelling:
Pam was mad.
Jan was as mad as Pam.
Val was fat.
Tad was as fat as Val.
Dan was bad.
Sam was as bad as Dan.
L esson 8: Review the two s sounds. Explain that sometimes the s stands
for a harder sound and sometimes a softer sound, as in these words: gas,
has, sad, as, sand, was. See if the child can distinguish between the two s
sounds. He can only tell which sound to say by hearing in his mind the
word as it is spoken. But the s stands for both sounds.
L esson 9: Introduce the ck consonant combination ending. Teach the
words: back, hack, Jack, lack, Mack, pack, rack, sack, tack. Ask the child to
* In some parts of the country was is pronounced wuz rather than woz.

Reading

37

identify the sound the ck stands for. Explain that sometimes two letters
will stand for one sound.
L essen 10: Introduce the short e. Explain that the letter e, like a, is
a vowel. Accustom the pupil to recognize the short e sound as distinguished from the short a. Start with the word Ed. Compare Ed with
ad. Then expand Ed into bed, fed, led, Ned, red, Ted, wed. Introduce
the word egg, pointing out that the double g sounds the same as a single
g. From egg expand into beg, keg, leg, Meg, Peg. Take the word keg and
have the child identify the sound the letter k stands for, since this is the
first word he has had beginning with k. As for the spelling inconsistency
between egg and beg, this should pose no problem. The child does not
expect perfect consistency. In fact, the reason why he will be able to understand and master the sound-symbol system is because it does have a
very high degree of consistency. The basic consistency between written
symbols and spoken sounds is the great abstract lesson he is learning, one
that gives him great intellectual satisfaction. So the exceptions that prove
the rule should neither be ignored nor overly stressed but merely pointed
out. By pointing out the occasional exceptions and irregularities, the basic
consistency of everything else is reinforced.
Next take the word and and change it to end. Emphasize the difference in sound between and and end. Ask the child to say the two words
and have him write them down from dictation. Now expand end into
bend, lend, mend, send, tend. Show how bat can be changed into bet; mat
to met; pat to pet; sat to set; vat to vet; ban to Ben; Dan to den; man to
men; tan to ten. Go through the following list of words with the child:
web

Ed

deck

egg

bell

gem

bed

heck

beg

cell

hem

fed

neck

keg

dell

led

peck

leg

fell

Ned

Meg

hell

red

peg

sell

Ted

tell

wed

well

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38

yell
Ben

bend

den

pep

yes

bet

Rex

lend

get

Tex

Jen

mend

let

vex

Ken

send

met

Len

tend

net

men

pet

pen

set

ten

vet

yen

wet
yet

L esson 10a : Review the words bell, cell, dell, etc., and point out that the
double l stands for the same sound as a single l.
L esson 10 b : Consonant c as s sound. Explain that c stands for both a
k and an s sound. Illustrate with the words cat and cell. Have the child
look at the words, listen to the sounds, and identify the sounds the letter
c stands for.
L esson 10 c : The consonant g sound as in gem. Explain that the letter g
stands for both the g in gem and the g in get. Most of the time, however,
it will stand for the g sound as in get.
L esson 10 d : Explain that so far the pupil has learned three ways in
which the k sound is written; Ken, cat, deck, keg, can, Jack. Tell the child,
however, that only by practice will he learn to spell each word correctly.

Reading

39

L esson 11: Review. The name game. Since many simple names illustrate
the short a and short e sounds in a variety of consonant combinations,
a game can be devised in which the child makes a list of friends whom
he would invite to his birthday party. He can choose from: Pam, Sam,
Dan, Jan, Nat, Van, Pat, Max, Tad, Hal, Sal, Val, Al, Ned, Ed, Meg, Peg,
Jen, Ken, Len, Jack, Mack. Let him practice such simple combinations as:
Jack and Dan.

Pam and Mack.

Meg and Peg.

Ned and Nat.

Van and Sam.

Jen and Len.

Max and Ed.

Names are also good for dictation purposes and spelling tests.
L esson 12: Many sentences can be made from the words already
learned. These sentences are for the purpose of helping the child master
the sound-symbol system. No story interpretation is needed or even desirable at this point. The child should be totally absorbed in the challenging job of mastering the sound-symbol system. The sentences are quite
obvious in meaning, and you can think up many more:
Jack has let Mack get wet.
Pam had ham and an egg.
Jen fed Al an egg.
Rex can sell ham.
Can Ken yell well?
Yes, Ken can yell well.
Make up other sentences if you feel that additional work is necessary
before moving on to the short i.

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40

L esson 13: The short i. Begin with the words: if, in, is, it, ill. Explain
that the letter i, like a and e, is a vowel. Compare a as in at, e as in Ed,
and i as in it. Let the child hear the differences. Let him say all three
short vowel sounds. Use Al, el, and ill to illustrate the three sounds. Then
expand if, in, is, it, ill as follows:
if

in

is

it

ill

bin

his

bit

Bill

fin

sis

fit

dill

pin

hit

fill

sin

kit

gill

tin

lit

hill

win

mitt

Jill

pit

kill

quit

mill

sit

pill

wit

quill
rill
sill
till
will

After the child demonstrates his ability to read the above, further
expand the short i words to include the following:
fib

dick

bid

big

dim

dip

hiss

Dix

rib

hick

did

dig

him

hip

kiss

fix

kick

hid

fig

Jim

Kip

miss

mix

lick

kid

gig

Kim

lip

nix

Mick

lid

jig

rim

nip

pix

Nick

mid

Mig

Tim

pip

six

Reading

vim

41

pick

rid

pig

quip

quick

Sid

rig

rip

Rick

wig

sip

sick

zig

tip

tick

zip

wick

L esson 13a : Introduce the consonant q and explain how it is always

followed by a u as in: quit, quill, quip, quick. In teaching these words, see
if the child can identify the sound the qu stands for.
L esson 13b : Explain that the double s as in kiss stands for the same
sound as a single hard s as in gas.
Lesson 14: Review. Suggested practice sentences:
Bill is ill.
Kim is ill and Nick fed Kim an egg.
Rick bit his lip.
Fix it. Mix it. Quit it.
Will Bill win?
Will Jill kiss Bill?
Make up other sentences if more practice is needed.

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42

L esson 15: Introduce the name Phil. Explain that ph together stands
for the same sound as f. Explain that Phil and fill are pronounced exactly
alike. Acquaint the child with the idea that often two different words
that sound alike are spelled differently. Expand Phil into Philip and ask
the child to read his first two-syllable word.
L esson 16: Introduce the word a. Tell the child that the letter a alone
in a sentence stands for the word a, as in a bed, a map, a cat, a hill, etc.
L esson 17: Introduce the word the, as in the hat, the cat, the sand, etc.
Let the child listen to the th sound so that he can identify it and make
the proper sound-symbol association. Take the words at, in, and is and
make them into that, thin, and this. Note that thin has a harder th than
the. The child should pronounce a word as his knowledge of the spoken
language indicates. All of these words are in his speaking vocabulary and
he should have no trouble pronouncing them as they are spoken. See if
the child can say the sound the th stands for by itself. If he cant, say it
for him. Also add th to em to make them. Show him how the th sound is
also found at the ends of words like with, bath, path. Have him learn to
read the following words:
the

bath

that

math

them

path

Beth

with

thin
this
than
Have the pupil practice with the following sentences and others you
might make up:
That thin cat has that fat rat.
This cat has that hen.

Reading

43

The cat fell in the bath and got wet.

Beth sat with Bill.
Will Jill sit with Beth?
L esson 18: The short o. Begin with the words on and ox. Let the child
hear the distinction between short a, short e, short i, and short o. Let
him see and hear the difference between an, in and on; ax, ex, and ox.
Expand ox into box and fox. Expand on into Don and Ron. Further expand your short o words to include the following:
Bob

cock

cod

of

cog

cob

dock

God

off

dog

gob

hock

mod

fog

mob

lock

nod

hog

rob

mock

rod

log

sob

pock

sod

rock

Tod

sock
tock
mom

on

cop

cot

ox

Tom

Don

hop

dot

box

Ron

mop

got

fox

son

top

hot

pox

ton

jot

sox

won

lot
not
pot

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44

rot
tot

L esson 18 a : Irregular pronunciations. There are a number of words

within the short o spelling families which are not pronounced as the pupil might expect. Point out that these words are pronounced as they are
spoken. They include the following: of, off, dog, son, ton, won.
Here are a few practice sentences in which these words are used. Again,
these exceptions to the rule confirm the consistency of everything else:
Ron is the son of Bill.
Don won his dog.
The dog got off the log.
The dog did not sit on the rock.
Don won a ton of ham.
The dog got on and off the cot.
Don got a hotdog.
Note the two-syllable word, hotdog. Explain to the child that many
two-syllable words are made up of two one-syllable words put together.
Tell the child that he will learn more about syllables later on. (See lesson
27.)
L esson 19: Introduce the apostrophe s: Bills dog. Dans cat. Pams hat.
The apostrophe means possession. Here are some practice sentences:
Rick has Tims dog.

Reading

45

Pegs cat is sick.

That is Dons pig.
L esson 20: The short u sound. Review the short a, short e, short i, and
short o sounds. Tell the pupil that now he is going to learn the short u
sound which is found in many common words. Say the short u sound
and write the words us and up. Compare the initial sounds of as, is, and
us. Expand us into bus, fuss, pus. Expand up into pup and cup. Have the
pupil learn to read the following short u words:
cub

bud

bug

cull

gum

bun

dub

dud

dug

dull

hum

fun

hub

mud

hug

full

mum

gun

pub

jug

gull

sum

nun

rub

mug

hull

yum

pun

sub

rug

pull

tub

tug
up us

run
sun

but

cup bus

cut

pup fuss

gut

Gus

nut

muss

put

pus

rut

lux

duz

L esson 20a : Point out the irregular pronunciation of the words full,
pull, and put. Numerous sentences for practice reading can be made up
from the words the child already knows. Include irregular words in the
sentences. Here are some suggestions. You can make up many more:

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46

The dog dug in the mud and had fun.

Toms dad is a cop and has a gun.
Can Jack pull the big log?
The red jug is full and Gus has it.
The cat fell in the tub.
Was it a big cat?
L esson 21: Introduce the sh sound. Explain how, as in th, two consonant letters stand for one sound. Teach the following sh words:
ash

mesh

dish

gosh

gush

bash

fish

hush

cash

wish

lush

dash

mush

gash

rush

lash

push

mash
rash
sash

wash
shack

shed

shin

shock

shun

ship

shop

shut
shot

Irregular pronunciations: wash rhymes with gosh. Push is pronounced

as the spoken word indicates.

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47

L esson 22: Introduce the ch sound. This is another single consonant

sound written with two consonant letters. Such a consonant sound designated by two letters is know as a consonant digraph, as illustrated in
the following words:
chap

check

chick

chop

chuck

chat

chess

chill

chug

Chet

chin

chum

chex

chip

rich

much
such

L esson 23: Introduce the wh sound (another consonant digraph) which

is a single consonant sound represented by two letters, as in the words
below:

what

when

whim
whip

Irregular pronunciation: what rhymes with hot.

L esson 24: General review. We have covered the five short vowel
sounds, a, e, i, o, u, all of the consonant sounds, and ch, ph, sh, wh,
qu, and nd. Now would be a good time to see how well your pupil has
mastered this much of the sound-symbol system and to give him general
practice with what he already knows. You can do this by having him
read a series of sentences which you can make up, or by reading mixed
word lists, or by giving spelling tests. You can test him with the following word combinations which can also be quite amusing because they
resemble tongue-twisters:
bad

fad

fat

dad

ban

rib

bed

fed

fit

did

Ben

rob

dud

bin

rub

bid

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48

bud

bun
Nat

get

let

band

pep

net

got

lit

bend

pip

nit

gut

lot

bond

pop

not

pup

nut
pan

pat

lack

pack

deck

hack

pen

pet

lick

peck

Dick

heck

pin

pit

lock

pick

dock

hick

pun

pot

luck

pock

duck

hock

puck
sack

bag

bat

Dan

fan

sick

beg

bet

den

fin

sock

big

bit

din

fun

suck

bog

but

bug
tack

mash

ship

shot

tick

mesh

shop

shut

tock

mish

tuck

mosh
mush

In having mastered this much of the sound-symbol system successfully, the pupil will be eager to master the rest. He has seen how new
knowledge builds consistently and logically on what he already knows
and how it all makes sense, how it all fits together in a comprehensible

Reading

49

system. Words are no longer a mystery to him. He cant as yet read them
all, but he already can read many of them and has had the thrill of figuring out and recognizing words he has been speaking and seeing all
around him. He knows that eventually he will be able to read all words
with the same ease he now reads those he already knows.
L esson 25: Adding s or es to words to make them plural or change
tense. The child changes verb tenses and makes plurals in his speech all
the time without technically being aware of what he is doing. We want
him now to recognize that sound change on paper. First ask him if he
can hear the difference between the words hat and hats and tell you what
that difference means. Repeat this with a number of words. Do the same
with a few verbs: win, wins; run, runs. Write them out:
hat

hats

cup

cups

bed

beds

kiss

kisses

win

wins

cat

cats

run

runs

box

boxes

yell

yells

hand

hands

bell

bells

egg

eggs

Explain why with two-syllable words like kisses and boxes we add an es
instead of simply an s. Indicate the two syllables by writing kisses as kisses. Make up practice sentences using plurals and tense changes, such as:
Bill has ten boxes of eggs.
Dick has six cats.
Rick picks six kids.
L esson 26: Contractions. Take the phrases is not, can not, has not, had
not, did not, it is, and let us and show how they can be contracted in writing to resemble their spoken counterparts:

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50

is not

isnt

it is

its

can not

cant

let us

lets

has not

hasnt

did not

didnt

had not

hadnt

Suggested practice sentences:

Is Bill sad? Bill isnt sad.
Can Ken run? Ken cant run.
Is this Pegs dog? This isnt Pegs dog.
Its Jills dog.
Lets run.
Has Peg a cat? Peg hasnt a cat.
Did Jills dog run? Jills dog didnt run.
L esson 27: Two-syllable words. There are a good many simple twosyllable words made up of two regular short-vowel pronunciation units
or two one-syllable short-vowel words. See how many your pupil can
read on his own. Help him if necessary. The point is to show how two
syllables are put together to make one word. Discuss the meaning of
the words he does not know. After he can read them, use them in a few
simple sentences with other words he knows. The exercise is to advance
his mastery of the sound-symbol system as used in writing and reading
multisyllabic words. Show him how to divide a word into syllables in
order to be able to figure it out and read it. Define a syllable as a speech
unit with one vowel sound, with or without consonants. For example,
the word a is a one-syllable word without any consonants, while wish is a
one-syllable word with three consonants.

Reading

51

hotdog

hot-dog

helmet

hel-met

boxtop

box-top

velvet

vel-vet

zigzag

zig-zag

tomcat

tom-cat

catnip

cat-nip

gallop

gal-lop

ticket

tick-et

lesson

les-son

napkin

nap-kin

lentil

len-til

tidbit

tid-bit

pencil

pen-cil

habit

hab-it

comet

com-et

rapid

rap-id

puppet

pup-pet

gallon

gal-lon

upset

up-set

candid

can-did

mimic

mim-ic

basket

bas-ket

public

pub-lic

tonic

ton-ic

suntan

sun-tan

magic

mag-ic

sudden

sud-den

unfit

un-fit

hatbox

hat-box

goblin

gob-lin

sunset

sun-set

robin

rob-in

hatrack

hat-rack

chapel

chap-el

bashful

bash-ful

picnic

pic-nic

dental

den-tal

kidnap

kid-nap

until

un-til

linen

lin-en

vomit

vom-it

visit

vis-it

husband

hus-band

rabbit

rab-bit

wagon

wag-on

nitwit

nit-wit

exit

ex-it

vivid

viv-id

Philip

Phil-ip

civil

civ-il

rivet

riv-et

Nixon

Nix-on

within

with-in

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52

Suggested practice sentences:

Jill has a picnic basket full of hotdogs.
Jack has put on his dads ten-gallon hat.
Bills mascot is a rabbit.
A magic goblin sat in the wagon.
Philip has a hotrod.
Peg can mimic a puppet.
The next series of lessons is devoted to final consonant blends with
regular short vowels in one-syllable words. This will teach the child to
recognize the written symbols for two consonant sounds blended together at the ends of words. Some of the words are not in the childs
vocabulary and may be difficult. In that case, do not dwell on them, but
concentrate on the words the child already uses. The purpose of these
lessons is not to teach vocabulary but to teach sound-symbol correspondences. Once the child has mastered the latter, emphasis can be shifted
to vocabulary. Before proceeding, however, please read the instructions
following lesson 63.
L esson 28: Review of the double consonant endings bb, gg, ll, ff, ss, tt.
The child has already been taught that double consonants stand for the
same sound as single consonants. The following mixed word list has been
prepared for quick review:
bell

Matt

doll

fill

hill

well

muff

puff

ebb

add

kill

less

cuff

Webb

fell

dull

Reading

53

hull

mill

kiss

tiff

egg

Jeff

will

hiss

lass

yell

miff

sell

Jill

mess

pass

miss

L esson 29: The sound of a followed by double l. Explain that the vowel
a stands for more than one sound. Take the words Al and all and see
if the child can distinguish between the two a sounds. Review how Al
rhymes with Cal, gal, Hal, pal, Sal, Val. Show how all rhymes with ball,
call, fall, gall, hall, mall, pall, tall, wall.
Lesson 30: Final consonant blend ng.
bang

bing

bong

hung

dang

ding

dong

lung

gang

king

gong

rung

hang

ping

pong

sung

pang

ring

song

rang

sing

sang

wing

zing
Irregular pronunciation: Note the variant pronunciation of the letter
o in the word song.
Here is a mixed list of ng words for reading practice:
ring

hung

ping

bing

wing

bang

gong

gang

dang

sing

dong

king

zing

pong

hang

sung

hang

bong

rung

ding

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54

ding

lung

sang

pang

ding-dong

sing-song

Hong-Kong

ping-pong

bing-bang

ding-dang

rang

Try the word Washington on the child, first dividing it into syllables,
Wash-ing-ton.
L esson 31: Explain how adding ing to many words gives us new words.
Note how the single consonant following a short vowel is doubled when
ing is added. The exception is fix, fixing.
fan

fanning

pack

packing

nap

napping

pick

picking

get

getting

yell

yelling

let

letting

sell

selling

kid

kidding

pass

passing

rob

robbing

sing

singing

run

running

ring

ringing

rub

rubbing

hang

hanging

dig

digging

fix

fixing

shop shopping

wish

wishing

rush

rushing

ship

shipping

Suggested practice sentences:

Jan is singing a song.
Bill is ringing a bell.
Ken is getting all wet.

Reading

55

Rick is kicking a ball.

Dick is calling his dog.
Lesson 32: Final consonant blends nd, nt.
and

rant

Kent

land

tent

fond

bend

fund

rent

dent

wind

tint

went

hand

end

punt

gent

lent

sand

hint

send

bond

sent

band

bunt

hunt

mend

rend

fend

bunt

L esson 33: Final consonant blends ct, ft, pt.

act

pact

lift

kept

apt

duct

fact

left

raft

aft

tact

gift

L esson 34: Final consonant blend nk.

bank

mink

hunk

wink

link

Hank

honk

monk

ink

tank

duck

pink

rank

junk

bunk

lank

sink

rink

Note the irregular pronunciation of monk which rhymes with junk.

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Lesson 35: Final consonant blends sk, sp, st.

ask

asp

last

must

vest

desk

lisp

best

fast

just

risk

gasp

fist

lest

zest

task

rest

list

vast

mask

bust

west

pest

dusk

cast

rust

mast

tusk

jest

gist

nest

test

mist

L esson 36: Final consonant blends xt, nch.

next

ranch

text

bench
inch
pinch
lunch

Lesson 37: Final consonant blends lb, ld, lf, lk, lm, lp, lt.
bulb

held

bulk

elf

meld

sulk

self

gild

milk

golf

bald

silk

gulf

talk

calf

walk

half

Reading

57

elm

help

belt

quilt

helm

yelp

felt

tilt

film

gulp

melt

cult

pulp

pelt

hilt

jilt
Note the irregular pronunciations of the a in talk, walk, and bald. The
a is pronounced as the a in all. Also note that in the words calf, half, walk
and talk the l is silent. Explain that the pronunciation of the words has
changed over the centuries but that the spelling hasnt. Thus, although
the words are still spelled with an l, the l is not pronounced.
Lesson 38: Final consonant blend mp.
camp

romp

hump

lump

hemp

limp

pomp

limp

bump

dump

jump

hemp

damp

lamp

ramp

pump

L esson 39: Final consonant blend tch.

batch

itch

etch

botch

catch

pitch

hutch

fetch

witch

hatch

patch

hitch

dutch

match

latch

retch

L esson 40: Final consonant blend dge. Explain that the final e is silent.
badge

Madge

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58

edge

hedge

ridge

fudge

budge

ledge

lodge

wedge

hodge-podge

Lesson 41: Final consonant blends nce, nse. The final e is silent.
fence

mince

since

dance

tense

hence

dense

rinse

sense

dunce

once

Note the irregular pronunciation of once, which rhymes with dunce.

Lesson 42: General review of final consonant blends and digraphs:
batch

kept

desk

hunt

next

belt

act

left

duct

last

went

path

self

fetch

fund

link

pest

dance

itch

help

camp

ring

cash

lisp

much

film

milk

edge

jump

fudge

half

with

sing

fond

elf

bath

test

west

hint

rust

ink

dish

match

lung

tent

pitch

melt

bank

catch

Reading

59

L esson 43: With some assistance, the pupil should be able to read these
two-syllable words with regular short vowels and known consonant
blends and digraphs:
disgust

dis-gust

rubbish

rub-bish

restless

rest-less

content

con-tent

enrich

en-rich

dancing

danc-ing

sandwich

sand-wich

enlist

en-list

enact

en-act

budget

bud-get

vanish

van-ish

polish

pol-ish

Kenneth

Ken-neth

Nashville

Nash-ville

consent

con-sent

compact

com-pact

within

with-in

contact

con-tact

selfish

sel-fish

engulf

en-gulf

suspect

sus-pect

shoplift

shop-lift

dentist

den-tist

conduct

con-duct

dishrag

dish-rag

exist

ex-ist

withheld

with-held

often

of-ten

absent

ab-sent

bathmat

bath-mat

fishnet

fish-net

bathtub

bath-tub

punish

pun-ish
offense

of-fense

senseless

sense-less

dustpan

dust-pan

The next series of lessons is devoted to teaching the child initial consonant blends in words with known short-vowel sounds and final consonant blends and digraphs. Work on those words first which are in the
childs speaking vocabulary. Then let him try the others. At this point,

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60

we are still more concerned with his mastering the sound-symbol system
than expanding his vocabulary. Until he can read every word in his own
speaking vocabulary, he is not ready to concentrate on expanding his
written vocabulary. However, if he shows an interest in the meaning of a
new word, by all means take the time to define it.
Lesson 44: Initial consonant blend bl.
blab

bled

blink

block

blunt

black

blend

bliss

blond

blush

bland

bless

blop

blank

blot

blast

L esson 45: Initial consonant blend br.

bran

bred

brick

brand

brig

brash

bridge

brass

brim

brat

bring

broth

brunt
brush

brink

Lesson 46: Initial consonant blend cr.

crab
crack
cram

crest

crib
crisp

crop

crud
crum
crush

Reading

61

crank

crutch

crass

crux

L esson 47: Initial consonant blends dr, dw.

drab

dredge

drift

draft

dress

drill

drag

drink
drip

drop

drug

dwell

drudge
drum

Lesson 48: Initial consonant blend fl.

flab

fled

flip

flock

flub

flack

flesh

flint

flog

flunk

flit

flop

flush

flag
flash
flat

L esson 49: Initial consonant blend fr.

Fran

Fred

France

fret

frill

frog
frost

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62

Frank

fresh

froth

French

L esson 50: Initial consonant blend gl.

glad

glen

glib

gland
glass
glob

glum

glop

glut

gloss

L esson 51: Initial consonant blend gr and gw.

grab

Greg

grid

grub

grad

grim

grudge

gram

grin

grand
grant
grass

Lesson 52: Initial consonant blend pl.

plan

plop

plug

plank

plot

pluck

Gwen

Reading

plant

63

plum
plus

Lesson 53: Initial consonant blend pr.

prance prep

prick

prod
prig

prom

prim

prompt

prince
print

L esson 54: Initial consonant blend shr.

shrank

shred

shrimp

shrug

shrink

shrunk

L esson 55: Initial consonant blend sl.

slab

sled

slid

slob

slum

slack

slick

slosh

slush

slam

slim

slot

slump

slant

slink

slung

slash

slit

slunk

slat

sling

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64

Lesson 56: Initial consonant blends sm, sn.

smack

smell

smog

snick

snob

smash
smut
snip

Lesson 57: Initial consonant blends sp, spr.

spam

speck

spick

span

sped

spill

spank

spell

spin

spat

spend

spit

spot

spun
spud

spent
sprang

spring

sprung

L esson 58: Initial consonant blends st, str.

stab

stem

stick

stock

stub

stack

step

stiff

stomp stuck

stag

sting

stop

Stan

stink

stump

stank

stint

stunt

stud

stunk
strand strep

string

strut

Reading

strap

65

strip

Lesson 59: Initial consonant blend sw.

swam

swell

swan

swim
swish
swift

Note the irregular pronunciation of the a in swan.

Lesson 60: Initial consonant blends sc, scr, sk.
scab

skid

scuff

scrub

scalp

skill

scum

scrunch

scan

skim

skunk

scant

skin

scat

skip

scrod

skit

L esson 61: Initial consonant blends thr, tr and tw.

thrall

thresh

thrash

thrill

thrift

throb

thrum

throng

thrush
thrust

track

trek

Trick

trod

truck

tram

trend

trim

trot

trudge

trance

trip

trunk

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66

trap

trust

trash
twang

twelve twig

twill
twin
twist
twit
twitch

L esson 62: General review of single-syllable short-vowel words with

initial and final consonant blends and digraphs. These words can be used
in making up practice sentences with other known words, in spelling
tests, in dictation.
truck

quick

blond

task

dwell

witch

skip

grudge

fudge

sash

slack

jump

swift

glass

dump

lisp

spring

bless

then

frill

edge

bank

trick

bring

spun

flag

golf

king

France

chance

slosh

cliff

elm

fond

hitch

flash

shrimp

crux

dutch

hint

next

plus

shack

draft

with

act

rich

grin

plum

chest

pest

lift

lunch

class

prom

bridge

dish

kept

patch

stink

L esson 63: Show the pupil how by adding s, es, ing, or ed to many
words, you can change the tenses:

Reading

67

hint

hints

hinting

hinted

lift

lifts

lifting

lifted

act

acts

acting

acted

miss

misses

missing

missed

pass

passes

passing

passed

jump

jumps

jumping

jumped

dump

dumps

dumping

dumped

vanish

vanishes

vanishing

vanished

visit

visits

visiting

visited

zigzag

zigzags

zigzagging

zigzagged

A great many practice sentences can be made up of the words the

child already should know how to read. Here are a suggested few:
Dad lifted the dog.
The witch vanished off the cliff.
The king of France danced.
The cat jumped off the bridge.
Bill had fudge with his lunch.
Pam drank a glass of milk.
The skunk stank.
The bell kept ringing.
The wagon zigzagged up the hill.
Gwen put cash in the bank.

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How to Tutor

Jan scratched his skin.

Bills wagon got stuck in the mud.
Pam slipped in the bathtub.

The next series of lessons is devoted to teaching the child how to read
the remaining vowel sounds. The long-vowel sounds can be spelled in a
variety of ways. However, the spelling patterns are quite distinctive and
are easily learned. Despite the fact that there are also a large number of
irregularly pronounced words among the long-vowel spelling families,
there is still a very high degree of consistency among the words in any
family. Thus, the pupil should have no problem mastering both the regular and irregular words of any one spelling pattern. Some of the irregular
words are so common that they are learned through frequent usage. As
we have pointed out previously, the exceptions and irregularities merely
serve to confirm and reinforce the consistency of everything else.
The child has by now acquired the knowledge and, hopefully, the
skill to be able to read such words as goblin and vanishing. However, he
has still not been taught to read such simple words as I, home, he, like,
ate, etc. This is because the child is still in the process of learning how to
read. That process consists of learning to master the sound-symbol correspondences of our writing system. It is purely a technical skill that we
are concerned with at this stage of the childs education. It is of course
possible to revise the sequence of lessons so that the child learns more of
the vowel sound-symbol correspondences before he learns the consonant
blends. This might permit the child to start reading some outside material earlier. But until he completes his mastery of all the sound-symbol
correspondences, there will be many words he will not be able to figure out easily. Fortunately, there are only a finite and not terribly large
number of sound-symbol correspondences which the child must learn in
order to become a proficient reader for his entire lifetime. It is the opinion of this writer that it is wiser to delay the childs reading of outside
material until he has learned all the sound-symbol correspondences he
needs to know.
There is much confusion among reading teachers today between the
concept of learning how to read and reading. No such confusion exists,

Reading

69

for example, among teachers of stenographic shorthand. The pupil has

to learn the full range of sound-symbol correspondences before she can
even begin to qualify as a stenographer. The same should be true of reading. It is too bad that the child should have to go through the process
of learning how to read before he can actually read. The how-to process
takes time, as does the acquisition of any skill, particularly a mental
skill involving the use of a large number of abstract symbols. Present-day
school instruction tends to minimize the difficulties involved in learning
to use such a set of symbols. Most teachers expect the students to pick it
up by osmosis, as if it could be learned naturally in the same way one
learns to talk. Unfortunately, alphabetic writing consists of a highly sophisticated use of abstract symbols. It cannot be learned properly outside
of a purely technical approach.
Anything of a technical nature, if it is to be learned well, must be
learned systematically, in a logical, orderly way, beginning with the simplest skill and progressing to the more difficult. In learning the alphabetic system there is considerable room for varying the sequence of skill
acquisition after the short vowels and consonant sounds are learned.
Which means that if the tutor would like to teach the long-vowel sounds
before teaching the consonant blends, so that the pupil can sooner acquire a reading knowledge of many common words, he can do so, provided he takes special care not to confuse the child. Part of what we are
teaching the child while we are teaching him the sound-symbol system,
is methodology. This should not be lost sight of in the impatience to get
the child to read every word he speaks. Although the child by now may
have acquired an ability to recognize some of the more common longvowel words on the basis of their consonants alone, he should be taught
their complete sound-symbol relationships. Every written word has its
place in the sound-symbol scheme of thingseither as a regular, irregular, or archaic construction. Although we do use monetary symbols and
punctuation marks, there are no hieroglyphics in written English. Every
word we utter can be written out alphabeticallyspelling peculiarities
notwithstanding. Tradition and convention compel us to put up with
these peculiarities. After all, written English is the product of a people
who still maintain a monarchy long after its use and logic has ceased to
exist. It is also the product of a people who have produced some of the
worlds greatest writers. Their use of written English is a testament to its
incredible versatility as an intellectual and esthetic tool.

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How to Tutor

Some nations are strongly bound to ancient traditions. These traditions are often reflected in their written language. Some of the irregularities in written English teach us a great deal about our languages history,
which is what traditions are supposed to do. However, because these irregularities, regardless of their origins, are an integral part of our written
language, they pose problems to the teacher of reading. We have taken
these irregularities into great consideration in working out the sequence
of lessons in this course of instruction. The result, we hope, will be more
proficient readersreaders so much at home with their written language
that reading will become for them an unlimited, lifelong source of enjoyment and learning.
L esson 64: The long a sound. Tell the child that he has learned all of
the short vowel sounds and how to read them, plus all of the consonants.
Now he is going to learn the long vowel sounds. Explain that the long
vowel sounds are pronounced the same as their letter namesa, e, i, o,
u. Start with a. Ask the child if he can hear the difference between the
words at and ate. Write them down to show him what they look like.
Explain that the silent e changes the short a to a long a. Explain that
both words have only two sounds each, but that the word ate has three
letters, one of which is silent. Cover up the e in ate and show him how
it becomes at. Remove the cover and he sees how at becomes ate. Now
under the word at write the words fat, hat, mat, rat. Under the word ate
write fate, hate, mate, rate. Ask the child to explain what happened when
you added the silent e to the words under at. Next, write the words Al
and ale. Ask the child if can read them. If the child has heard of ginger
ale, hell know the word ale. Show him what happens when you cover up
the e in ale. It becomes al, which, because it is a proper name, must be
spelled Al. Now, under Al write pal. Under ale write pale. Again youve
demonstrated the power of the silent e. Now make a list with the following words: cap, tap, mad, Sam, can, pan. Then in a column to the right,
write: cape, tape, made, same, cane, pane. Again, explain how the silent e
changed the short a into a long a.
Now ask the child if he can think of any other words, like ate and
ale, which begin with a long a sound. If he cant think of any, suggest
Abe, ace, age, and ape. Expand the six words which begin with long a as
follows:

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71

Abe

ace

age

ale

ape

ate

babe

face

cage

bale

cape

date

lace

page

dale

gape

fate

pace

sage

hale

tape

gate

race

wage

male

drape

hate

brace

stage

pale

grape

Kate

grace

sale

scrape

late

place

tale

mate

space

stale

rate

trace

crate
grate
plate
state

When the above words are learned, add the following:

fade

safe

bake

came

cane

jade

cake

dame

Dane

made

fake

fame

Jane

wade

Jake

game

lane

blade

lake

lame

mane

grade

make

name

pane

trade

quake

same

sane

rake

tame

crane

sake

blame

plane

take

flame

wake

frame

brake

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72

flake
shake
stake

ache
bare

base

cave

daze

care

case

Dave

maze

dare

gave

craze

fare

have

graze

hare

pave

mare

rave

rare

save

ware

wave

share

brave

stare

crave

are

grave
slave

L esson 64 a : Irregular pronunciations: are, have. Teach the child the

correct pronunciations of these words.
Note that the a in the bare, care group is technically not quite a long
a. The r following the long a modifies the sound of the a, but it is close
enough to the long a and has the same consonant-silent e spelling pattern
to justify its inclusion in this section. Note the spelling of ache.
L esson 65: The long a as spelled ai. Explain to the child that the long
a with the silent e is not the only way to spell the long a sound. It is also
spelled ai as in the words aid, aim, and air. Expand these three words
as follows:

Reading

73

aid

aim

air

laid

maim

fair

maid

claim

hair

paid

pair

raid

chair

said

Clair

Have the child compare the words made and maid. They are pronounced exactly the same. Explain the meaning of each. The reason why
we spell the long a in more than one way is so that we can write different
words which sound alike in different ways. Next, have the child learn the
following words:
bail

bait

Cain

again

fail

wait

gain

against

Gail

trait

lain

hail

main

jail

pain

mail

rain

nail

vain

pail

brain

sail

chain

wail

drain

frail

plain

trail

slain
Spain
stain
train
strain
twain

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74

L esson 65a : Irregular pronunciations. Explain that said rhymes with

red. Also explain that the ai in the words again and against is pronounced
like short e.
L esson 66: The next most common spelling of the long a sound is ay
found in the following words:
bay

may

clay

hey

day

nay

gray

grey

Fay

pay

play

they

gay

ray

slay

obey

hay

say

stay

jay

way

tray

Kay

stray

lay

sway

Note the variant, irregular spelling of hey, grey, they, and obey. Gray
and grey are two different spellings for the same word.
L esson 67: Another, less common, way the long a is written is ei, as in
these words:
rein
vein

veil

heir

weigh

eight

their

sleigh

weight

reign

Explain that sometimes when three different words like vein, vain,
and vane sound alike but mean totally different things, they are spelled
differently so that the reader can tell which meaning is intended by the
writer. The same is true of rain, rein, and reign; veil and vale; heir and air;
eight and ate. Point out that the h in heir is silent. Also point out that the
g in reign and the gh in weigh, sleigh, eight, and weight are silent. Take up
the spellings and meanings of their and there.

Reading

75

It is not necessary for the pupil to remember everything you tell him
about every irregular word. Most of them are our most common words
and he will get to know their spelling and pronunciation peculiarities
through repeated use of them in reading and writing. However, it is important for him to know that there are many exceptions to the rules. In
this way he learns both the rules and the exceptions. Otherwise he might
simply be confused by the inconsistencies and learn nothing. We often
remember the rules by knowing the exceptions.
L esson 68: General review of long a words. All of these words are in the
childs speaking vocabulary and he should have no trouble reading them:
face

space

tail

vein

main

weigh

pain

scrape

dare

fake

flame

play

way

paid

brave

stain

grade

they

plate

chair

brain

care

cake

say

cage

their

gate

brake

day

ache

L esson 69: Two- and three-syllable words composed of known shortand long-vowel pronunciation units. See how many the child can read on
his own. Help him with the others. The purpose of the lesson is to teach
the child how to look at multisyllabic words in terms of their separate
syllables:
payday

pay-day

explain

ex-plain

railway

rail-way

complain

com-plain

airplane

air-plane

mailman

mail-man

careful

care-ful

inkstain

ink-stain

spaceship

space-ship

painful

pain-ful

away

a-way

tailgate

tail-gate

engage

en-gage

maintain

main-tain

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76

waitress

wait-ress

embrace

em-brace

raining

rain-ing

graceful

grace-ful

enslave

en-slave

obtain

ob-tain

grateful

grate-ful
engagement

en-gage-ment

lemonade

lem-on-ade

engraving

en-grav-ing

complaining

com-plain-ing

navigate

nav-i-gate

agitate

ag-i-tate

L esson 70: Suggested sentences for practicing the long a in its various
spelling forms:
The train is late but on the way.
Dave is complaining that its raining.
Ray drank lemonade in the spaceship.
Clair and Ray went away on the same airplane.
The mailman came late again.
Jane said, If it rains lets take the train.
Their train was late. But the train will take them there.
Lets play a game, said Jane.

Reading

77

L esson 70a : Quotation marks. Explain the use of quotation marks

when the speech of a person is directly quoted. Make up more sentences
for additional practice.
L esson 71: Introduce the a sound as in all, Paul, jaw. Teach the following words:
all

halt

balk

haul

gaunt

ball

malt

calk

maul

haunt

call

salt

talk

Paul

jaunt

fall

walk

Saul

gall

chalk

fault

hall

vault

launch

mall

staunch

pall

Maud

tall

fraud

wall
stall
cause

awe

pause
taut

hawk

bawl

dawn

jaw

brawl

fawn

law

crawl

lawn

paw

drawl

pawn

raw

yawn

saw

brawn

claw

drawn

draw
flaw
thaw
straw

78

How to Tutor

Irregular pronunciation: Note that in talk, walk, chalk the l is silent.

(See also Lesson 34 concerning the silent l, and Lesson 26 concerning
the a sound with the double l.)
L esson 72: Irregular spellings. Take up the following group of irregularly spelled words all of which rhyme with taut. Note the silent gh and
the mixed pattern of au, ou spellings. Most of the spellings are derived
from ancient pronunciations and therefore reveal something of the linguistic origin of the words. How much of this you can make the child
aware of depends on the curiosity, interest, and intelligence of the child.
Most of our highly irregular words are frequently used and therefore
learned with little or no trouble. In teaching correct spelling, it is a good
idea to put special emphasis on these words and others like them:
ought

fraught

bought

nought

brought

sought

caught

taught

fought

thought

L esson 72 a : One of the most highly irregular words in our language is

drought, meaning a long spell of dry weather. In pronunciation it rhymes
with out, although it has the same spelling pattern as brought with the
silent gh. Actually, it should be classified among those words in which
the ow sound is spelled ou. (See Lesson 96 for the ow sound as spelled
ou.) Drought is often confused with draught, which is pronounced draft.
L esson 72 b : There is another group of highly irregular one-syllable
words with au, ou spellings, in which the gh stands for the f sound. They
are common words and the child should pronounce them as he has heard
them spoken:

cough pronounced cawf

Reading

79

rough pronounced ruff

tough pronounced tuff
draught pronounced draft
laugh pronounced laff
laughter pronounced lafter
Draught and draft are two accepted spellings of the same word.
In learning all of these irregular words, it is obvious that the child
will have to devote some practice to reading them and writing them.
The important thing is not to make any great fuss over them, except to
point out that they are unusual spellings and represent something of a
challenge in mastering them. Again, these irregularities merely confirm
the consistency of almost everything else. Our method makes it possible
for the pupil to see the written languages eccentricities and irregularities
in the context of a highly consistent and predictable system. In addition, the irregularities are in themselves consistent in that once they are
learned, they do not change.
L esson 73: Suggested practice sentences:
Tall Paul caught the ball.
Small Paul hit his jaw.
Saul walked and talked with Paul.
Paul taught Saul a lesson.
It was Sauls fault.
L esson 74: Introduce the a sound as in arm, art, ah, ma, pa. Words
with this a sound include the following:

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80

bar

bard

scarf

ark

arm

car

card

dwarf

bark

farm

far

hard

wharf

hark

harm

jar

lard

lark

warm

par

yard

mark

tar

ward

park

war

Clark
spark

barn

carp

art

darn

harp

cart

yarn

tarp

dart

carve

pa

warn

warp

heart

starve

mama

mart

farce

ah
ma

papa

part
tart

wart
quart
quartz
Irregular spelling: heart
Irregular pronunciation: Notice the similar pronunciation of the a in
war, ward, wharf, dwarf, warm, warn, warp, quart, quartz. Apparently
when a w sound precedes ar it forces the mouth to pronounce the a in a
narrower channel, thus making ar sound more like or. You neednt trouble the child with this explanation, unless you think he will be helped
by it. Most of these words are in the childs speaking vocabulary and he
knows how to pronounce them. His task is to simply recognize in written form what he says in spoken form.

Reading

81

L esson 75: Introduce the long e sound by comparing such words as bet
and beet, fed and feed. Show the child the ee as the most common written
form of the long e sound. Show how ee can be expanded into bee, fee, see,
etc. Then introduce the word eel. Expand ee and eel as shown:
bee

eel

fee

feel

gee

heel

Lee

peel

see

reel

free

steel

tree

wheel

knee
Then create these additional words with the long e sound as spelled ee:
heed

beef

Greece

leek

deem

deed

reef

fleece

meek

seem

feed

reek

teem

need

seek

reed

week

seed
weed
breed
creed
greed

been

beep

beer

beet

breeze

seen

deep

deer

feet

freeze

teen

keep

jeer

meet

sleeve

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82

queen

jeep

peer

greet

geese

green

peep

cheer

sweet

cheese

screen

seep

queer

tweet

weep

steer

creep
sleep
steep
sweep
Irregular pronunciation: The word been is pronounced in the United
States as if it were spelled bin.
Special spelling: Acquaint the child with the kn construction in knee.
L esson 76: There is a family of short common words in which the long
e is spelled with a single e, as follows:
be
he
me
we
she

L esson 77: Another way in which the long e sound is written is ea. Introduce the words eat, ear, each. Expand them as follows:
eat

ear

each

beat

bear

beach

feat

dear

peach

heat

fear

preach

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83

meat

gear

reach

neat

hear

teach

peat

near

seat

pear

cheat

rear

sweat

sear

treat

tear

threat

tear

wheat

wear
year

swear
Irregular pronunciations: The words sweat and threat rhyme with wet.
The following words rhyme with care: bear, pear, tear, wear, and swear.
Point out that regular tear, as in teardrop, is an entirely different word
from irregular tear, which means to rip apart. Note, also, the two meanings of bear. The child can determine which meaning the author intends
by the context in which the word is used.
Additional words with the long e sound as written ea:
pea

bead

deaf

beak

deal

beam

sea

dead

leaf

leak

heal

ream

tea

head

peak

meal

seam

lead

teak

peal

steam

lead

bleak

real

team

read

seal

cream

read

steal

dream

bread

veal

stream

weal
zeal

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84

bean

heap

east

ease

eave

dean

leap

beast

cease

leave

Jean

reap

feast

lease

heave

yeast

tease

weave

lean
mean

crease

clean

please
peace

Irregular pronunciations: The following words rhyme with red: dead,

head, lead, read, bread. Explain that lead and read, both of which rhyme
with need, have different meanings from the lead and read which rhyme
with red. The reader can only determine the meaning of the word by the
context in which the author uses it. The word deaf rhymes with Jeff
L esson 77a : Here are some suggested sentences to illustrate how the
context will determine how to pronounce words with more than one
pronunciation:
A neat cap is on his head.
Jean ate lean meat and bread.
Jean is deaf. Can she lead the way? She led the way.
She picked up a green leaf.
The ball is made of lead.
Did he read the ad? He read the ad last week.
Please bring peace, she pleaded with a tear.
Tear it up, he said.

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85

Lesson 78: Sometimes the long e sound is spelled ie, as in the following
words:
niece

thief

pier

field

piece

chief

tier

yield

grief

pierce

shield

fierce

sieve

siege

believe

fiend

receive

friend

Irregular pronunciations: sieve is pronounced siv; friend rhymes with

trend.
Irregular spelling: receive, i before e except after c.
L esson 79: The long e is also commonly written as y at the end of a twosyllable word or name, as follows:
Abby

daddy

taffy

saggy

baby

caddy

daffy

baggy

Tabby

paddy

jiffy

Maggy

Libby

Teddy

puffy

foggy

lobby

giddy

stuffy

Peggy

muddy

muggy

study

Twiggy

Billy

mammy

Danny

happy

Harry

silly

mommy

Fanny

pappy

carry

Sally

mummy

Benny

peppy

Perry

rally

tummy

Jenny

poppy

Terry

hilly

Tommy

Lenny

puppy

merry

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86

Molly

Timmy

Kenny

hurry

Polly

penny

sorry

bully

bunny

chilly

funny

frilly

sunny

daily

money
any
many
messy

batty

hazy

sissy

fatty

lazy

fussy

ratty

crazy

pussy

catty

dizzy

easy

city

fuzzy

busy

pity

pretty
nutty
Irregular pronunciations: pretty rhymes with city; busy rhymes with
dizzy; money rhymes with sunny. The u in pussy is pronounced the same
as the u in put. This u sound, incidentally, is identical to the oo sound in
words like book, cook, took. (See Lesson 95 for the oo sounds.) Any and
many rhyme with penny.
Lesson 79a : The long e written as y is also found in such words as:
key

creamy

salty

buttery

bakery

monkey

Reading

87

Lesson 79 b : Sometimes the long e is written as ie at the ends of words,

as in:
Jackie

hippie

junkie

Minnie

In the plural, the final y becomes ie. However, this is more of a spelling problem than a reading problem, since the child should have no
trouble identifying the ie as a long e symbol, as in these words:
baby

babies

bakery

bakeries

lobby

lobbies

bunny

bunnies

daddy

daddies

puppy

puppies

city

cities

caddy

caddies

However, if the y is preceded by e as in key and monkey, the plural is

made by adding s, as in keys and monkeys. In the case of money, the plural
is either moneys or monies. In other words, the rules of usage are not difficult to figure out, but there is some variation, and the dictionary should
be consulted in case of doubt. As for the child who is learning how to
read, do not complicate his problems by going into these fine details at
this time. Let him simply learn that the long e is written as ee, ea, ie, e, y,
or with a consonant and silent e, and let him become familiar with the
families of words in which these long e spellings are present. Most of the
one-syllable words in these spelling families are already in his speaking
vocabulary, and he will learn to read them easily.
L esson 79 c : The long e sound written as y in the ly ending. Introduce
the child to the familiar ly ending with the following combinations:
bad

badly

sad

sadly

happy

happily

day

daily

gay

gaily

L esson 80: There are also a few words in which the long e is followed
by a consonant and a silent e, as in gene, scene, scheme, here, mere, these.

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88

However, there are exceptions: there and where rhyme with care; were
rhymes with fur; and eye is pronounced as the name of the letter i. Note
that these are all very frequently used words and are learned through
constant usage. Have the child read these words:
gene

here

scene

mere

these

eve

Pete

Steve

L esson 81: Review of words with the long e sound represented by e, ee,
ea, ie, y, or with a consonant and silent e:
tea

please

steal

meet

treat

eve

week

queen

feet

tease

cheer

weep

fear

reach

eel

here

peace

feast

niece

sweet

ease

near

greet

breeze

beet

sea

clear

chief

mean

Steve

see

field

city

Pete

need

Jean

easy

she

beach

feel

bean

believe

Jeep

steer

read

she

seat

jeer

tree

greasy

dear

thief

these

leave

he

hear

gear

feat

we

leaf

key

meat

study

funny

baby

dizzy

L esson 82: Suggested practice sentences with long e syllables:

Pete and Steve are sleeping on the beach.
Peggy ate a pretty peach. She picked it from a
peachtree.

Reading

89

The busy airfield is near the big city.

It was peaceful. A green leaf fell from the tree.
We sent Merry Christmas greetings.
We ate meat, beets, beans and drank a cup of tea.
The paleface brought the Indian chief a gift.
The Indian chief was pleased.
Note that the ch in Christmas has the k sound.
L esson 83: Many common English words have an er ending. Introduce
the child to these words, all of which have known vowel sounds:
better

number

rather

bigger

sitter

sweeter

ginger

dealer

winter

fever

sweater

finger

maker

lumber

heater

teacher

sister

butter

baker

chatter

hunger

later

upper

bumper

bother

summer

slipper

pitcher

blister

letter

understand

letterbox

feverish

lumberjack

slippery

gingerbread

L esson 84: Introduce the long i sound. Tell the child that the long i
sounds the same as the name of the letter i. First teach the word I. I am.
I am

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90

I take
I make
I have
I had
I met
I ran
I played
Next, show how the most common way to write the long i is with
a consonant followed by a silent e. Illustrate with the word ice and the
name Ike. Expand ice and Ike as follows:
ice

Ike

dice

bike

lice

dike

mice

hike

nice

like

rice

Mike

vice

pike

price

spike

slice

strike

spice
twice
Teach these additional words in these spelling families:
bribe

bide

life

bile

dime

dine

tribe

hide

rife

file

lime

fine

ride

wife

mile

mime

line

side

knife

Nile

rime

mine

Reading

tide

strife

91

pile

time

pine

wide

tile

chime

vine

bride

vile

crime

wine

chide

smile

grime

brine

pride

while

prime

shine

slime

spine

isle

clime

swine

aisle

climb

thine

slide

twine
pipe

dire

rise

bite

dive

size

ripe

fire

wise

kite

five

prize

wipe

hire

site

give

gripe

mire

quite

hive

swipe

sire

trite

jive

stripe

tire

live

wire

live

spire

chive
drive
strive
thrive

Irregular spellings and pronunciations: The kn in knife stands for n.

Both isle and aisle are pronounced the same as ile. The s in isle is silent.
The s in aisle is silent, the ai is pronounced i. Explain the difference in
meaning between the two words. Give and live are pronounced as if
they were spelled giv and liv, with short i sounds. Note the difference
in meaning between live (short i) and live (long i). Note the silent b in
climb. (Additional silent b words are taken up in Lesson 112.)

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92

L esson 85: The long i sound is also sometimes written as ie, y, and uy,
as in the following common words:
die

by

buy

lie

my

guy

pie

ply

tie

sly

vie

spy
cry
dry
fry
pry
try

In the past tense, the y is changed to ied:

die

died

lie

lied

tie

tied

cry

cried

dry

dried

try

tried

L esson 86: In some words the long i is also found in combination with
a silent g or gh as in:
sign

high

fight

sigh

light

thigh

might

Reading

93

night
right
sight
tight
bright
fright
slight

height
Irregular spelling: The word height rhymes with light, not eight or
weight.
Lesson 87: Note the long i in the following spelling families:
bind

binder

child

blind

blindness

wild

find

finder

hind

behind

kind

unkind

mind

kindness

rind

kindly

wind

remind

wind

unwind

Exceptions: Note the pronunciation of wind (short i) as opposed to

wind (long i). Explain the meanings of the two words. The i is also short
in window and cinder. Note also: child, children; wild, wilderness. In all
of these cases the spoken word is the guide to the words correct pronunciation, not its spelling.

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94

L esson 88: Review of long i pronunciation units in two and threesyllable words:
alive

reply

delight

decide

define

beside

refine

apply

advise

desire

alike

retire

assign

design

tighten

admire

advice

behind

devine

arise

remind

inspire

aside

kindness

reptile

entwine

brighten

highest

rightful

driver

retirement

re-tire-ment

rightfully

right-ful-ly

delightful

de-light-ful

assignment

as-sign-ment

reminder

re-mind-er

designer

de-sign-er

L esson 89: Suggested practice sentences with long i words:

The child cried.
The night was mild and dry.
I sat beside the driver. The driver was nice.
I tightened my seatbelt.

Reading

95

The light was in my eyes.

Mike and I are alike.
Can I ride my bike? Mike asked with a smile.
I can ride five miles, Mike said.
I asked myself, Did Mike lie?
L esson 90: Introduce the long o sound. Say the words oak, old, oat to
make sure the child identifies the long o sound. Then tell him that the
long o sound can be written in a number of ways and that it is easy to
learn them all.
The most common way of spelling the long o is with a consonant
and a silent e, in the same way that the long a and long i are commonly
written. Show him how rob is changed to robe by adding the silent e, cod
to code, rod to rode. Then take the word dive and show how inserting an
o in place of the i makes it dove, the past tense of dive. Present him the
following words:
robe

ode
code
mode
rode

coke spoke

hole dome

one

done

joke

stoke

mole home

bone

none

poke stroke

pole Rome

cone

gone

woke

role

come

lone

broke

sole

some

tone

choke

whole

smoke

zone

once

phone

cope

ore

dose

note

cove

doze

dope

bore

hose

vote

dove

froze

hope

core

nose

quote

dove

pope

fore

pose

love

How to Tutor

96

rope

more

rose

move

slope

tore

chose

rove

sore

close

wove

yore

close

clove

chore

drove

store

grove

swore

stove

glove
shove
Irregular pronunciations:

come, some rhyme with hum.

one, done, none rhyme with fun.
once rhymes with dunce.
gone rhymes with dawn.
dove, love, glove, shove are pronounced as if they were
spelled duv, luv, gluv, shuv.
move rhymes with groove.
Note close, meaning shut, rhymes with rose, while close, meaning near,
rhymes with dose.
L esson 91: A second common way in which the long o is spelled is oa
as in the following words:
load

loaf

oak

coal

foam

Reading

road

soak

toad

cloak

97

goal

roam

soap oar boast

oat

roar

coast

boat

soar

roast

coat

board

toast

goat

hoard

moat
float
gloat

L esson 92: A third way in which the long o is spelled is ow as in the

following words:
bow

blow

own

low

crow

blown

row

flow

grown

mow

grow

shown

sow

show

known

tow

slow

know

snow

L esson 93: A fourth way in which the long o is written is in combination with a consonant blend or followed by r. When followed by r the
long o undergoes a modification in sound simply because it is physically
impossible to pronounce a full long o sound immediately before an r.
However, for all practical purposes of vowel-sound classification, the o in
or is a long o. Teach the child to identify the following words with their
spoken counterparts:

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98

old

host

cord

cork

dorm

born

bold

most

ford

fork

form

corn

cold

cost

lord

pork

norm

horn

fold

lost

chord

York

worm

morn

gold

post

word

stork

torn

hold

worn

mold

adorn

sold
told
fort

horse

boss

or

Mort

Morse

loss

for

port

Norse

moss

nor

sort

toss

short
Irregular pronunciations: Note that cost and lost have the same o sound
as in boss, loss, moss, toss. This o sound is similar to the aw sound in jaw.
As spelled, worm should sound like warm, but it rhymes with germ.
Word rhymes with herd.
L esson 94: In a few simple words, the long o is simply spelled with an
o, as in the following:
oh
go
no
so
quo
yo-yo

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99

The pronunciation of these words will be obvious to the child when he

encounters them in reading. He should become aware of the exceptions
in this group, namely:
do
to
two
who
you

L esson 95: Introduce the oo sound as in good and food. There is a slight
difference between the two sounds, but the oo stands for both of them.
Remember that the spoken language is always the ultimate guide to a
written words pronunciation.
coo

boob

brood

goof

book

boo

food

hoof

cook

moo

good

roof

hook

too

hood

proof

look

woo

mood

nook

zoo

wood

took

stood

brook
crook
shook
spook

cool

boom

boon

coop

boor

fool

doom

moon

loop

door

pool

broom

noon

hoop

moor

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tool

tomb

wool

soon

poop

spoon

stoop

drool

poor

sloop

school
loose

boot

booth

ooze

moose

coot

tooth

booze

noose

foot

smooth

snooze

choose

hoot
loot
soot
root
toot
zoot

b.)

Irregular pronunciation: door rhymes with more.

Irregular spelling: tomb rhymes with doom. (See Lesson 113 for silent

L esson 95a : Special spelling group. The following group of irregularly

spelled words also rhyme with good: could, would, should. After you discuss their meanings, explain also that these words are often joined with
not to make the following contractions:
could

could not

couldnt

would

would not

wouldnt

should

should not

shouldnt

L esson 95b : The problem of vowel variants. One of the best ways to
illustrate the nature of most of the irregularities in written English is by

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101

showing the variety of pronunciations which can be found in one spelling family. For example:
both

bother

brother

broth

other
mother
smother
The o in both is long. The o in bother is short. The o in brother is pronounced as short u. The o in broth is pronounced as aw in raw. Despite
these variations, the child should have no trouble uttering the appropriate vowel sound for each word. Why? Because, first, he has been taught
to associate the written word with the spoken word. Second, he has been
taught that such irregularities are common and of no great importance
except in learning to spell correctly. Third, the consonants are quite consistent, and it is only the vowel sound which varies. The inconsistency
of the vowel sounds may give the child some trouble at the beginning
stages of reading when encountering unknown words. But as he reads
more and more, he develops the ability to identify familiar words and to
hear them in the context of what he is reading. The problem of vowelsound variation, if it ever existed for the child, simply disappears. Experience, moreover, seems to indicate that children are not bothered by such
variations at all and that they accept them as they accept everything else
around them. To a child, inconsistency is quite a natural part of life. It is
expected, lived with, and learned.
To have the child practice reading the vowel variants illustrated in
this lesson, make up sentences like the following:
Both mother and brother told father not to bother
sister.
Both brothers had broth for breakfast.
One brother tried to bother the other.
Mother saw the Smothers Brothers on TV.

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Lesson 96: Suggested practice sentences for the o and oo sounds.

Mort sold the pork for gold and went home.
His brother Joe took some money and told his mother
that he was going to the store to buy something.
He opened the door of the store.
The storekeeper was old, toothless, and spooky.
What should I buy? Joe thought. Ill buy a broom,
some tools, a wool hat, good food, some pieces of wood, a
pair of boots, and a hoola-hoop.
Could I have these things? he asked.
If you have gold, said the old man who walked with a
stoop.
L esson 97: Introduce the ow, ou sound as in cow and ouch. There are
many common words in this vowel group, as shown below:
bow

owl

own

cow

bowl

down

couch

how

cowl

gown

pouch

now

fowl

town

touch

pow

howl

brown

vouch

sow

jowl

clown

vow

growl

crown

wow

drown
frown

browse

ouch

Reading

loud

gouge

103

ounce

proud

bounce

cloud

pounce

noun

flounce
trounce
bound

count

our

douse

out

found

fount

four

house

bout

hound

mount

hour

louse

lout

pound

sour

mouse

pout

round

tour

rouse

rout

sound

your

souse

clout

wound

flour

doubt

wound

trout

ground
mouth

bower

bough

rough

youth

cower

plough

tough

flower

drought

enough

power
tower
Irregular pronunciations and spellings:

bowl rhymes with role.

own rhymes with tone.
touch rhymes with much.

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104

four and your rhyme with or.

tour rhymes with poor.
youth rhymes with tooth, as you rhymes with too.
The ou in wound sounds like oo in moon.
Note the silent b in doubt.

rough, tough, enough rhyme with stuff.

The word own is actually in the spelling family of low, know, known.
It rhymes with bone. Note that one is pronounced wun and is the written
word for the numeral 1. Note the three spellings of four, for, and fore.
Obviously, the three different spellings provide immediate visual cues to
the meaning of each word.
L esson 98: Here are some well-known two-syllable practice words with
ow, ou sounds which the pupil should be able to read quite easily:
downtown

lousy

vowel

doubtful

towel

county

Mounty

countless

bow-wow

about

fountain

arouse

counter

mountain

sauerkraut

bouncing

Suggested practice sentences:

Mr. and Mrs. Powell went downtown to see clowns at
the circus.
Later they sat down at the counter of a soda fountain.
They had hotdogs with sauerkraut and ice cream sodas.

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105

It all cost about four dollars.

Explain the meaning of the abbreviations Mr. and Mrs.
L esson 99: Introduce the oy, oi sounds as in boy and oil. Here are some
common words in that sound group:
boy

void

oil

coin

joint

coy

boil

join

point

joy

coil

loin

Roy

foil

soy

soil
toy
toil
broil
spoil

noise

hoist

Joyce

poise

foist

Royce

choice

moist

L esson 99a : Here are some simple two-syllable words with oy, oi syllables.
poison

toilsome

joyful

avoid

decoy

boyish

oily

spoiler

broiling

appoint

annoy

rejoice

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L esson 100: Introduce the long u sound. Give examples by pronouncing

such words as use, June, cube, mule. These words are spelled with the u
followed by a consonant and silent e as follows:
cube

dude

lube

huge

cuke

mule

fume

Jude

duke

rule

plume

Rube

nude

juke

Yule

tube

rude

Luke

crude

puke

prude
dune

dupe

cure

use

cute

June

pure

muse

jute

tune

sure

ruse

lute

prune

mute
brute
chute
flute

Irregular pronunciation: The s in sure is pronounced sh.

L esson 101: Here are some two- and three-syllable words with long u
syllables which your pupil should be able to read easily:
cupid

assure

ice-cube

refusal

Yuletide

refuse

duty

cucumber

jukebox

prudent

parachute

musical

dilute

Neptune

tuneful

amusing

amuse

pupil

jury

insurance

tubeless

ruler

student

fumigate

rudeness

music

excuse

assurance

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107

Lesson 102: The long u is also spelled ue and ui as in the following

words:
cue

blue

duel

juice

due

clue

fuel

fruit

hue

flue

cruel

bruise

rue

glue

Sue

queue

cruise

true

Lesson 103: The long u is also spelled ew and eu as in these words:

dew

blew

flew

few

brew

grew

Jew

chew

stew

Lew

clew

view

mew

crew

screw

new

drew

news

lewd

feud
deuce

pew

sew
Irregular pronunciation: The word sew rhymes with no.
L esson 104: The er, ir, ur sounds. Note the general interchangeability
of these sound symbols. A few or and ear words can be included in this
group.
her

terse

earn

fir

shirt

jerk

verse

search

sir

squirt

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108

clerk

berth

heard

bird

birth

germ

Perth

learn

gird

girth

term

nerve

yearn

firm

mirth

fern

serve

earth

girl

thirst

herd

verve

dearth

whirl

Bert

swerve

dirt

smirk

pert

Merv

flirt

quirk

dirge

fur

curl

urn

Curt

word

cur

hurl

burn

hurt

work

purr

furl

turn

curse

worm

curd

lurk

churn

nurse

worst

urge

murk

spurn

purse

worth

purge

Turk

burst

splurge

curve

L esson 105: Here are some two- and three-syllable words with er, ir, ur,
ear, and or units joined with other known sounds:
perfect

herself

terminal

birthday

Mervin

searchlight

nervous

return

thirsty

service

occur

further

dirty

workingman

learning

expert

wormy

urgent

intern

murky

worthless

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109

worthwhile

hurtful

girlish

Turkish

L esson 106: Many common English words have an le ending in which

the l sound terminates the word with only the slightest hint of a vowel
sound preceding it. This vowel sound is often called the muttering vowel. These words will familiarize your pupil with this common spelling
form:
able

apple

battle

cable

grapple

cattle

fable

paddle

rattle

gable

faddle

little

table

fiddle

brittle

sable

saddle

settle

stable

coddle

kettle

maple

riddle

tattle

idle

pebble

tittle

stifle

babble

turtle

bridle

bubble

eagle
rifle
beagle
trifle
ample

jungle

dazzle

hustle

sample

juggle

razzle

bustle

simple

struggle

fizzle

rustle

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110

dimple

ogle

wrestle

pimple

bungle

raffle

temple

wiggle

ruffle

fumble

wriggle

piffle

bumble

wrinkle

humble

crinkle

nimble

jingle

rumble

jangle

grumble

strangle

stumble

bangle

tumble

dangle

jumble

single

pestle

thimble
gentle
handle
Note the silent t in hustle, bustle, etc. (See Lesson 112 for more on the
silent t.)
L esson 107: Show how these multisyllabic words are derived from the
words learned in the previous lesson:
juggler

settler

unstable

cobbler

simply

rustler

gently

babbling

rattler

wrestler

handling

grumbling

tumbler

fizzled

fumbling

rifleman

littlest

gentleman

pimply

unsettled

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111

L esson 108: There are many words of Latin origin in English in which
the ce, sc, ci, ti, xi, su, and tu are pronounced sh, ch, or zh. Here are some
of them the pupil can become familiar with:
ocean

ancient

national

nation

fission

confusion

special

racial

facial

station

ration

fraction

fissure

rapture

patient

initial

fusion

capture

sure

crucial

insure

treasure

leisure

fracture

mission

nauseous

measure

issue

conscious

atrocious

patience

question

pleasure

tissue

motion

physician

picture

musician

obnoxious

transportation

L esson 109: The pupil has already been introduced to several words
beginning with the silent k, such as knee and know. Here are others he
should become familiar with:
knack

knap

knave

knee

knight

knit

knob

knock

known

knowing

knuckle

kneeling

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112

kneel

knelt

knickers

knot

know

knowledge

knitted

knocked

knotted

L esson 110: Introduce the initial silent g in these words beginning with
gn:
gnarl

gnarled

gnawing

gnat

gnome

gnaw
gnu

L esson 111: Introduce the pupil to the silent w in words beginning

with wr:
write

wrack

wrench

wrapping

wrap

wreath

wrist

writing

wrong

wring

wrath

wrought

wreck

wrote

writer

wry

wretch

wrestle

wretched

wrestling

wriggle

wrestled

written

wrestler

L esson 112: Introduce the silent t with these words:

castle

hustle

nestle

often

listen

Reading

113

whistle

hustling

hastening

soften

listener

wrestle

bristles

thistle

rustling

moisten

hasten

christen

rustle

wrestling

whistling

Lesson 113: Introduce the silent b as in the following words:

dumb

thumb

plumber

limb

climb

lamb

comb

crumb

tomb

bomb

numb

debt

bombing

climbing

Note the interesting variant sounds of o in comb, tomb, and bomb.

Lesson 114: The h is silent in some words. For example:
honor
ghastly

hour

ghost
ghetto

honest
ghoul

Lesson 115: In some words ch stands for the k sound, as in the following:
Christ

chord

chorus

Christian

chrome

Christmas

cholera

psyche

psychic

character

scheme

chemist

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114

chemical

chronic

chlorine

chlorophyll

chronicle

chemistry

L esson 116: The pupil has already been introduced to the silent g and
gh as found in such long i words as sign and sight. The silent gh is found
in other common words as well. Here are some of them:
naughty

daughter

height

straight

weight

fought

weigh

slaughter

flight

lightning

caught

thoughtful

thought

frightened

eighty

brighten

neighbor

eighteen

slaughtered

thoughtfully

L esson 117: Review of ph and gh as the f sound:

phantom

Ralph

rough

cough

graph

pharmacy

physical

Phoenix

tough

phony

photo

graphic

emphasis

telephone

phase

photograph

laugh

laughter

physics

Philadelphia

telegraph

philosophy

phrase

philosopher

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115

With the completion of the final lesson, the child has learned the
English sound-symbol system thoroughly enough to permit him to read
virtually anything he will encounter in print. He will have no problem
understanding all of the written material which is within his present intellectual scope, and he will have an entry into everything beyond it. His
knowledge of the written language is now equal to his knowledge of the
spoken language, and he can express his own thoughts on paper. Now he
can use his entry into the world of written language to expand both his
knowledge of the spoken word and the written word.
Reading a book is, from a technical point of view, much like playing
a roller-playback piano. Once the paper roll with punched holes starts
turning, the piano plays a piece of music complete with harmonies and
chords, as if played by a professional. Similarly, when a reader starts reading a book, he channels someone elses words and thoughts through his
own brain and his own mouth. The words and thoughts flow rapidly
through the readers mind because all the work of thinking has already
been done by the writer. But here the analogy between the playback
piano and the reader ends. The piano is a mechanical instrument. The
reader is a living being with a living mind. Thus, the authors thinking will, if it is interesting or challenging, in turn stimulate the readers
thinking. The result is mental exercise, the kind of exercise the intellect
needs in order to grow. This is how mind expansion really takes place.
We have tried to teach the child a number of important things in this
course of instruction. First, we have provided him with a fundamental
knowledge of our languages sound-symbol system which will enable him
to read the written word accurately and proficiently. He has learned how
forty-four distinct language sounds can be combined in endless variation
to produce thousands of easily understood spoken words. And he has
seen how twenty-six letter symbols can be combined in an equally endless variation to write those thousands and thousands of spoken words.
He has discovered that most spellings (about eighty percent) are quite
accurate in their sound-symbol representations. Some wordslike how
and low, for examplecan be read in more than one way, either of which
may be correct from a sound-symbol point of view, but only one of which
will be correct from the written-word-spoken-word point of view. Some
words like worm, want, young, said, friend, pretty are spelling peculiarities. But even with these words, it is only the vowel sound which is in
accurately represented. The consonants are all accurate. Ninety percent
of our irregular words are of this kind. Even the most irregularly spelled

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wordslike eye, one, two, tombhave sufficient sound-symbol elements

to keep them within a limited range of possibilities. But because most
of these words are alternate spellings of words with the same sound but
different meaning, their distinct spellings, associated with specific meanings, make them easy to learn.
One should also be reminded that in regional accents, it is the vowel
sounds which vary rather than the consonants. These regional accents
are easily accomodated by our flexible vowel-symbol system. In a language spoken from Glasgow to London, Sydney to Cape Town, Boston
to Atlanta, there are bound to be significant differences in accent. Yet the
same written words must be read by all of these people in their respective
regional accents. Which bring us to our remarkable vocal system.
We use five vowel letters and occasionally the consonant y to stand
for over three times as many speech sounds. In addition, because of our
double es, double os, ea, ie, ai, etc., our vowel symbols have tremendous
visual impact. We hear them loudly when we see them, not only because
we often use two vowel letters to represent one vowel sound in a word,
but because in our speech we emphasize our vowels much more than we
do our consonants. English, unlike German, is not a guttural language
with its stress on consonants. Its unique quality, which suits it so well for
poetry and drama, is its range of vowel sounds. Websters New World Dictionary of the American Language lists twenty-one vowel sounds in English. The phonetic Initial Teaching Alphabet has sixteen vowel symbols
for sixteen sounds. In our traditional spelling we use thirty-one ways of
writing our full range of vowel sounds. To achieve this with only five
vowel letters, we use single letters, double letters, combined vowel letters, and vowel letters combined with consonants like w and y. The result
is that 15 vowel symbols represent only one sound each; 9 represent 2
sounds each; 2 represent 3 sounds each; 3 represent 4 sounds each; 1 represents 5 sounds; and 1 represents 6 sounds. It is not surprising that this
should be the case with so few letters required to do so much work. There
is in English a great interchangeability of vowel sounds and symbols, and
therein lies our teaching problem. But it is not as difficult a problem as it
would seem once the teaching approach is logical and systematic.
This brings us to the method used in this course of instruction. We
have used our method not only to make learning how to read easier,
faster, and more efficient, but also to teach the child something about
method itself; something about the problem of taking a highly complicated system of abstractions and making it manageable for a childs

Reading

117

mind. We consider that lesson as important for the intellectual growth

of the child as his learning how to read. And this is why we have insisted that the child should not be diverted by distracting pictures, irrelevant excursions, story interpretations, and vocabulary building at a
time when he is mastering this complex system of symbols. Mastery of
this system should form the heart of his elementary education. It will
provide a foundation for literacy so solid, so indestructible, so thorough,
that all his future work will be able to draw important intellectual sustenance from it.
Language is the basis of all intellectual work, and the system of abstractions which forms the basis of our writing should be mastered during the first years of schooling. Such mastery is the first real step toward
literacy. It is also the first real step toward the understanding of logic. A
sound-symbol system which enables us to use twenty-six letters to write
thousands of words is an intellectual marvel of tremendous magnitude, a
marvel that every child should be made aware of. And only a systematic,
organized, and logical approach will make him aware of it.
Thus, we have stressed the basic consistency of the system and introduced the irregularities as they occur within each of the spelling groups.
Even in the irregularities there is an important lesson to be learned. The
number of irregularities in written English helps to develop mental flexibilitya tolerance and appreciation for variation, an ability to see that
there is more than one way to write a sound or express a thought, and
that the written language is a living instrument of thought. If the written language were one hundred percent consistent it would appear rigid,
inflexible, and stultifying. Its inconsistencies breathe with life. They reflect the ever-changing, growing people who make them and use them.
The only languages which do not grow and change are dead languages.
And even if we devised a perfectly phonetic alphabet, with one symbol
per sound, how would we deal with regional accents and changing pronunciations? And who would suppose that, in time, this writing system
would not develop its own inconsistencies and irregularities? The simple
fact is that inconsistency, the exception to the rule, the unique, is an
important part of life, and it is only natural that the vehicle of mans
thinking should reflect this.
The truth is that our writing system is a rich, ingenious system, capable of accomodating our most complicated feelings, emotions, and
thoughts. Its peculiarities make it interesting, vital, and very human.
Like each of us, it has its faults. But better than most of us, it functions

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superlatively well despite them. The English writing system is the most
useful intellectual instrument ever devised by man. It has been used by
philosophers, scientists, novelists, dramatists, and poets to create a legacy
of unparalleled wealth for anyone who wants to draw from it. The skill
required to make use of that legacy is easily the most precious skill a human being can acquire. It is our hope that this book will have made the
acquisition of that skill as pleasant and interesting as possible.

Reading

Index of Lessons
1 short a, consonants m, n, s, t, x
2 capital S, period, h, w, d
3 review
4
nd, l
5
b, c (as in cat) f, g (as in gag), j, p, r, v, y, z
6 review
7
was
8
the two s sounds as in gas and as
9
ck as in Jack
10 short e, double g
10a double l
10b
c as in cell
10c
g as in gem
10d the k sound as c, k, ck
11 review
12
sentences made up of known words
13 short i
13a
qu
13b double s
14
Review, practice sentences
15
ph as f
16
the word a
17
the word the; the th sound
18 short o
18a
irregular pronunciations: of, off, dog, son, ton, won; sentences
19 apostrophe s
20
short u
20a
irregular pronunciations: full, pull, put; sentences
21
sh
22
ch
23
wh
24 review
25
plurals and verb tenses with s, es
26
contractions; sentences
27
two-syllable short-vowel words
28
review of double consonants
29
a as in all

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(Lessons 30 thru 43 teach final consonant blends)

30
ng
31
ing ending
32
nd, nt
33
ct, ft, pt
34
nk
35
sk, sp, st
36
xt, nch
37
lb, ld, lf, lk, lm, lp, lt; silent l
38
mp
39
tch
40
dge
41
nce, nse
42
review of final consonant blends
43
two-syllable words with short vowels and consonant blends
(Lessons 44 thru 62 teach initial consonant blends)
44
bl
45
br
46
cr
47
dr, dw
48
fl
49
fr
50
gl
51
gr, gw
52
pl
53
pr
54
shr
55
sl
56
sm, sn
57 sp, spr
58
st, str
59
sw
60
sc, scr, sk
61
thr, tr, tw
62
review of consonant blends
63 adding s, es, ing, or ed to words; sentences
64 long a as a-e
64a
irregular words: are, have
65 long a as ai

Reading

65a
irregular words: said, again
66 long a as ay, ey
67 long a as ei
68
review of long a words
69
two- and three-syllable words with long a speech units
70
sentences with long a words
70a
quotation marks
71
a as in all, Paul, jaw
72
irregular spellings; aught, ought
72a
drought, draught
72b
au and ou with gh as f
73
practice sentences
74
a as in arm, art, ah, ma, pa
75 long e as ee; kn as in knee
76 long e as e in he, she
77 long e as ea
77a
sentences illustrating use of context
78 long e as ie (i before e except after c)
79 long e as y
79a long e as y and ey
79b long e as final ie
79c long e in ly ending
80 long e as e-e
81
review of long e words
82
sentences with long e words: ch as k
83
words with er endings
84 long i as i-e; the word I
85 long i as ie, y, uy; y changes to ied
86 long i with g, gh
87 long i in mind, child
88 long i units in two- and three-syllable words
89 long i sentences
90 long o as o-e
91 long o as oa
92 long o as ow
93 long o in old, with r, ss
94 long o as o
95
oo as in good, food
95a
could, would, should; contractions

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95b
vowel variants
96
practice sentences with long o and oo sounds
97
ow, ou as in cow, ouch
98
two-syllable words with ow, ou units; sentences
99
oy, oi as in boy, oil
99a
two-syllable words with oy, oi units
100 long u as u-e
101
two- and three-syllable words with long u units
102 long u as ue, ui
103 long u as ew, eu
104
er, ir, ur, ear, or sounds
105
two- and three-syllable words with er, ir, ur, ear, or
106
le ending
107
multisyllabic words derived from le words
108
ce, sc, ci, ti, xi, su, tu, sh, ch, or zh
109
kn as in knee
110
gn as in gnarl
111
wr as in write
112 silent t as in often
113 silent b as in dumb
114 silent h as in hour, ghost
115
ch as k as in chord
116 silent gh as in weigh
117
review of ph and gh as f

part three

handWriting
Handwriting

f the three Rs, writing has been the most neglected in the elementary school curriculum for the last thirty years. The reason for this
(which is scarcely known by most educators and totally unknown by the
lay public) is that ever since the introduction of print-script writing in
our schools in the 1930s, American children have been required to learn
two systems of writing. And of the two, cursive writing has gotten less
and less attention in the changing primary school curriculum. Prior to
the introduction of print-script, or manuscript as it is officially called,
American children were taught only one way to write: cursive, which
means running, and describes the traditional flowing form of adult
handwriting in which all the letters of a word are joined. In those days,
children were taught penmanship and by the third grade had learned to
write reasonably well by third-grade standards.
However, because cursive writing is a rather difficult skill for some
first-graders to master, it was thought desirable to introduce children to
the art of writing via the simplified print-script invented by an Englishman and imported into this country in the 1920s. Manuscript, as this
print-script was later called, is a misnomer if there ever was one. Manu123

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script is simply a form of hand printing or lettering, very much like the
kind that architects use on their drawings. But it has been considered
and taught as a form of handwriting, which it really is not.
In todays curriculum, when a child reaches the third grade, he is generally considered ready to learn cursive: real writing or grown-up writing
as some children call it. Unfortunately, most teachers expect the children
to pick up cursive writing on their own without much practice or supervision. In addition, children are required to use their cursive handwriting
extensively in their schoolwork before they have been fully trained in
it. The result is poor, illegible scrawls and lots of bad handwriting habits. Some schools dont even bother to give formal instruction in cursive
writing at all, expecting the students to pick it up completely on their
own if they want to use it. The handwriting of these students generally
reflects their lack of instruction.
This dual writing program, in which cursive writing gets the short
end of the stick, has been criticized by some thoughtful educators. For
example, one concerned educator,* writing in Elementary English of October 1960, commented:
Such a duality of learning and performance is almost unknown
in the areas of reading and arithmetic where the first learnings
are simply reinforced and broadened through subsequent training
rather than altered and changed as in the area of handwriting.
However, this dual program in handwriting instruction seems
to have been accepted by educators almost without question, for no
more than one or two research studies dealing with the transitional
aspect of handwriting instruction have been reported within the
past two decades. However, a study recently completed by this investigator provides data which support the premise that it is more
difficult for a person to master two sets of handwriting symbols than
it is for him to perfect one setwhether that set be manuscript or
cursive in style.
For many children who apparently encounter little or no dif
ficulty at the time of transition this duality of learning and per
formance in handwriting appears to create few problems. However,
those of us who have been primary teachers for any length of time
are aware that children vary considerably in their ability to make
the transition from one handwriting style to another and that some
* Elaine Templin, Handwritingthe Neglected R.

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children experience considerable loss in handwriting facility during the transitional period.
Personal observation has led this author to conclude that it is
the boys who are more likely to experience difficulty in developing
a legible and fluent cursive style of handwriting. Indeed, a few boys
known to the author have persisted in clinging to the manuscript
style of writing long after their classmates have succeeded in completing the transition.
However, if tradition demands a continuance of the dual program of handwriting instruction, it would seem advisable for educators to urge that more careful guidance and more thorough instruction be provided during the period of change-over, for it is
at this level where our youth are most likely to become handwriting
cripples.
Yet it is here that the greater laxity in handwriting instruction
seems to occur, for many teachers and pupils appear to view the
transition as a nuisance as well as a necessity. In addition, many
of them seem to believe that the cursive style of handwriting can
be acquired quickly and easily since the pupils already know how
to write.
Nothing could be farther from the truth. A childs ability to
reproduce the manuscript symbols does not preclude his need to
practice and to master the cursive symbols when they are intro
duced to him.

That sums up quite well why the handwriting of so many students

is so poor. They must master two sets of symbols, two styles of writing,
and the transition from one to the other is, in most cases, very carelessly
and thoughtlessly made. Because of this, some educators have advocated
teaching one writing style only. One veteran teacher of handwriting, Luella Cole, addressed that problem in the Elementary School Journal of
November 1956. She wrote:
Perhaps the commonest fault in these lowest grades is an over
emphasis upon printing of the letters, that is, upon manuscript
writing. If this type of writing could be continued indefinitely, its
introduction would be defensible. However, the permanent use
of printing has at least three shortcomings. First, it is, in general,
somewhat slower than cursive writing. Second, it tends, from imitation of book printing, to be written verticallya characteristic

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which is not in itself objectionable but which contributes to

the slowness of its production for most right-handed people.
Third, its use leads to the introduction of misleading spaces
within words, because pupils have joined together their letters in groups of two or three but have not joined together
all the letters within an entire word. Thus, such a sentence as
The earth began to tremble, emerges as T he ear th be g an
to trem ble. Even if every letter is perfectly formed, the result
is still illegible because of the spacing. Since, therefore, on the
judgment of the present writer, manuscript writing cannot
be continued with an expectation of satisfactory permanent
results, it is best never to let it become established. Whatever
form a first-grade child voluntarily uses for first writing his
name (block capitals, printed letters, or cursive) is acceptable
for the moment, but the actual teaching should certainly introduce cursive handwriting, since these letter forms will be
used throughout life.
There are other educators, however, who feel that the dual writing
program, so deeply entrenched, is with us to stay, and they advocate
strengthening the writing program all the way down the line, going from
print-script, to slant print-script, to cursivea three-stage program.
This, however, would require a much greater emphasis on handwriting
than many schools or teachers want to confer on the subject. There are
also those who want to eliminate cursive writing altogether. Their views*
were expressed in Elementary English of December 1971 as follows:
It is the position here that instruction in handwriting
should consist of the development and maintenance of one
writing style throughout the childs educational career; that
the advantages which manuscript holds for children as a communication tool clearly point to this as the style to be utilized,
and that instruction in cursive writing should be eliminated
from the basic curriculum of the elementary school.
The evidence of a growing body of comparative data would
seem to support the instruction of manuscript as the writing
style in the primary grades and its maintenance throughout
* Emma E. Platter, of the University of Calgary Faculty of Education, and Ellsworth
S. Woestehoff, of the University of Rochester College of Education, Toward a Singular
Style of Instruction in Handwriting.

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childrens educational careers. A transition to cursive writing is complicated by factors which may create unnecessary
problems for many children and therefore militate against a dual

program of handwriting instruction.

Cursive writing style should be considered for what it really is: a
complex, complicated skill that is difficult to acquire. The time allotted to introduction and maintenance of the cursive writing style
might well be directed to more significant language experience.

Thus, there is considerable disagreement among educators not only

on which of the two writing styles to teach but how to teach them. The
ones to suffer in all this pedagogical confusion and debate are the students. For our purposes, however, let us be clear on several points. First,
manuscript writing is not handwriting. It is a form of hand printing.
Our language has only one universally acceptable handwriting system,
and that is cursive. Second, since it is cursive writing instruction which
suffers in the schools, it is cursive writing which the tutor must specialize
in. Third, we share Luella Coles view that since cursive writing is the one
which will be used throughout life, it is the one to teach the child. If the
time the child spends in formal instruction is to be used to the childs
maximum future benefit, it should be spent learning a skill which he will
be able to employ in every area of educational, personal, professional,
and business life. In addition, unless you can write cursive yourself, it is
not likely that youll be able to read the handwriting of others very well.
In short, cursive writing is one of the indispensable tools of literacy in
our highly literate civilization, and it should be taught as penmanship to
every child thoroughly and systematically from grade one onward.
In teaching a child to write you must think of the task in the same
way you would think of teaching the child a physical skill like playing
tennis or ping-pong, or playing the violin, or crocheting, or touch typing. What is involved for optimum performance is good muscular control, relaxed nerves, good eyesight, and excellent coordination between
hand and eye. To bring it down to an even simpler level, we might say
that teaching a child to write is no more intellectual than teaching him
how to eat with chopsticks. The task is one of physical dexterity and the
earlier it is learned the better. Many a Chinese youngster of four or five
can handle chopsticks quite adeptly while a Western adult might have
to spend weeks practicing before he could do as well. But first the adult
would have to be taught how to hold the chopsticks correctly before
being able to use them proficiently, and it would take a great deal of

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practice before the adult could use them as easily and automatically as
the Chinese child.
The same is true in teaching a child to write in cursive. Holding a
pencil is perhaps a lot less difficult than holding chopsticks. Learning to
form each letter and numeral legibly takes time because there are sixtytwo of themtwenty-six lower-case letters, twenty-six capitals, and ten
numerals. The child must be taught how to write each letter and numeral
correctly. Since writing is a physical skill which must become automatic,
the child must repeat writing the letters slowly, accurately, and legibly
until he does it so well that speed picks up on its own.
Because learning to write is a purely physical and muscular task, all
the procedures used in mastering a physical skill must be applied. Luella
Cole, after a full career of teaching children how to write, summed up
these procedures in six easy-to-understand precepts:
1. Base the teaching upon careful imitation of a good model, allowing only such minor variations as are necessary because of a
pupils age or size.
2. Continue the practice of simple skills under close supervision until the pupil can execute a series of movements perfectly.
3. Teach self-diagnosis and self-correction until you feel sure that
the pupil has the habit of self-appraisal.
4. Then introduce intensive practice, but without competition.
5. Permit no strain or pressure. If the pupil voluntarily tries to hurry,
stop him.
6. Wait for nature to take its course in the development of speed.
How do we write? It is obvious that we write with the hand and fingers, which hold the writing instrument; the wrist, which gives the hand
flexibility; and the arm, which moves the hand across the page. There has
always been much dispute over how much arm movement is involved in
handwriting. It is of course possible to use the hand and fingers merely
to hold the writing instrument and to have the arm perform most of the
movements. This form of writing was called muscular movement penmanship and was more suited to writing the ornate script of the past
than it is to our modern utilitarian sort of handwriting.
The most comfortable way to write is by having the forearm rest on
the desk, with the elbow as the pivot from which the arm can move to
the right or left, carrying the hand in the direction it has to go. But as far

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as shaping the letters is concerned, the fingers, hand, and wrist do most
of the moving. True, we can feel the muscles in our arms contributing to
the more obvious muscular activity of our hand and fingers, just as we
feel the muscles in our back contributing to the more obvious muscular
activity of our legs when we walk.
In fact, when we walk, we also find that swinging our arms helps us
walk better, faster, and with a more even rhythm. This is exactly the
extent to which the arm contributes to writing skill. We no more write
with our arms than we walk with them. But they are important auxiliaries in promoting rhythm, speed, and good form. We use more arm or
less arm depending on our writing position and the size of what we are
writing. How much arm to use becomes a matter of personal adjustment
over the years.
In walking, for example, the British army uses as much arm movement as leg movement to create the rhythmic, bold stride it is famous
for. But it is hardly a natural way of walking. The same criterion must
be applied to cursive handwriting skill. How much finger, hand, wrist,
and arm movement is natural to the task? The child finds this out gradually by discovering what movements are needed to produce the script he
wants. The script he wants should be one that is legible and as easy and
comfortable as possible to write at a suitable speed.
Thus, in teaching a child to write, the first thing we do is introduce
him to a comfortable and correct way of sitting and holding the writing instrument. The instrument is held about an inch above the writing
tip by three fingers: the first joint of the middle finger supporting the
instrument from the bottom, the thumb holding it from the left, the
index finger holding it from the top right. If you turn your hand and
look directly at the pencil point you will notice that it emerges from a
triangular opening made by the three fingers. The pencil is supported in
this triangular opening by the three fingers, which apply the necessary
subtle pressure to move the pencil point in the direction the writer wants
it to go. The upper part of the pencil rests in the arc made by the thumb
and index finger. The fourth and fifth fingers, somewhat curled, support
the writing fingers with the rest of the hand, which rests on the desk,
and contribute to the hands movement and position. This instrumentholding position is both comfortable and natural. It does not require a
tight grip. In fact, the more relaxed it is, the better.
It should be pointed out that cursive writing evolved because it was
natural for the human hand and arm (in the pursuit of speed, greater

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efficiency, fewer stops, and less fatigue) to write in a slant and to join
the letters of a word. The result was the cursive alphabet. The cursive
alphabet is not an arbitrary set of forms devised to make life difficult for
first-graders. It is the ultimate refined product of hundreds of years of
trial and error in which the need for both legibility and speed required
such compromises and refinements as to maximize both. It was devised
to make life easier, not more difficult, to provide man with one of his
most useful tools of self-expression and communication.
Despite what some educators say about the difficulty of learning
to write cursively, there is a basic simplicity at the heart of our cursive
handwriting system. All cursive script can be reduced to three basic pen
movements: the overcurve and undercurve, both of which originate in
the oval, and the push-pull slant stroke. The entire cursive alphabet is
made up of these three natural basic movements in a variety of combinations. The oval and push-pull, as writing expert E. A. Enstrom has pointed out, are nothing more than the graphic representations of the natural
movements of the relaxed arm, wrist, hand, and fingers when the paper is
placed at the proper angle to permit better arm leverage and vision. That
is why the cursive letters took the shape they did. Cursive writing makes
use of our most natural arm, wrist, hand and finger movements. There is
nothing strained in these movements. The coordination that is required
can be learned with practice, and learned so that in a relatively short time
it becomes wholly automatic.
So first we make sure that the child is seated in the proper position,
facing the desk or writing table squarely, his feet flat on the floor, his
body in a natural erect position rather than humped or bent over. The
paper is placed at the proper counter-clockwise angle so that the writing
arm is perpendicular to its bottom edge. The arm, when swung left or
right from its elbow pivot permits the hand to form a rainbow arc from
one side of the paper to the other. The illustration shows how the child is
to hold the writing instrument and the angle in which the writing paper
is placed.
What kind of writing instrument should the child begin with? A regular, standard-size, number-two pencil or a fine or medium-point ballpoint pen would be appropriate. The ballpoint pen might be preferable.
You might have the child test both to see which one he works better
with. Children tend to grip a ballpoint pen less tightly than they do a
pencil. Also, the writing is a bit faster, and more thought is given before
writing because of the inability to erase. Whether you use pencil or ball-

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point pen or both, use standard-size instruments. Children use them as

easily as they do the so-called beginners instruments.
What kind of paper to use? We suggest using regular 8 1/2 by 11
sheets of white paper with one-half-inch rules. The texture should be
good for the ballpoint pen or number-two pencil. The size of the small
letters at the outset can be written a half inch high, that is, the full width
of the ruled lines, so that the child learns to form them correctly. They
will become smaller as writing skill increases. Any capitals written at the
outset should be one-inch high, or the width of two ruled lines. Have
the child skip two lines when going to another line of writing, so that
tall letters and letters that loop below the line will not interfere with the
next line of writing.
We have correlated our writing instruction with our reading instruction, so that the one will reinforce the other. Thus, in learning the alphabet (the letter names and shapes) we recommended having the child
draw the alphabet letters, perhaps on large sheets of paper with pencils,
crayons, or felt-tipped pens. Please note that we specified draw and not
write. The purpose of that exercise was to help familiarize the child with

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the shapes of the printed letters so that he could recognize and name
them. This drawing exercise is an aid to reading and not to be considered
an introduction to writing. It can be limited to only the capital letters or
can be extended to include some or all of the lower-case letters. However,
such drawing is not to be confused with writing and it should cease as
part of the instruction after the alphabet has been learned and cursive
writing instruction has begun.
We start our instruction in cursive writing at the same point that we
complete Lesson One in our reading instruction, in which the child begins learning the sounds of the letters. We have stressed repeatedly that
literacy is a two-way process. The child is being taught to write as well as
read. He is to become a sender of messages as well as a receiver, a talker
as well as listener. For that reason we believe that the means for sending
messages should be taught at the same time that the means for receiving
them are taught. In fact, the physical exercise of writing is an excellent
relief from the mental exercise of reading. Therefore, we suggest that the
reading lesson come first, with the last ten or fifteen minutes of the session being devoted to writing. In this way, what has been learned in the
reading lesson will tend to be reinforced by the purely physical writing
lesson.
There are other advantages obtained in correlating the reading instruction with the writing course. The child learns to spell as he learns to
write. In addition, since the letter sounds are learned in family spelling
groups, the child has a chance to write the same letter forms over and
over again, giving him the practice he needs to perfect the letter forms.

Teaching the Left-Handed Child to Write

About one in ten children is left-handed. Being left-handed does not affect a childs learning ability. Some left-handed children can be taught to
write with their right hands. Others, however, find it much too awkward
and exhibit general incoordination, including speech reactions. Therefore, the tutor should discuss the problem with the childs parents before
deciding which course to take. It appears that hand preference is so innate that one should not interfere with the natural coordination and balance that come with the use of the preferred hand. It has been found that
when the left-handed are taught the best approach to handwriting, they

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can often write with greater speed and higher quality than the norms
established for all writers in general.
If the child is left-handed it is preferable that he be seated to your
left during handwriting instruction. Since our handwriting system was
devised for the convenience of the right-handed, everything has to be
reversed to accommodate the left-handed, except, of course the direction
of writing. Both right- and left-handed must write from left to right.
However, instead of tilting the paper to the left, the left-handed child
tilts it to an extreme clockwise position. He also holds the pencil about
one and three-eighths inches from the point, with the eraser end directed
toward the left shoulder and he keeps his hand below the writing line.
By writing from the bottom up, the left-handed child can see what he is
writing and maintain the proper leverage.
The left-handed should use the same forward slant in writing as do
the right-handed. If taught correctly, the handwriting of the left-handed
should look exactly the same as that of the right-handed. It is important
to make sure that the left-handed childs paper is tilted extremely clockwise. Too little turning will encourage the hook position which creates
smearing problems and is in general an inferior writing position.
The tutor will find that the left-handed child tends to reverse letters
more frequently than does the right-handed child. In fact, there is a tendency to mirror-write at early stages of learning because of the natural
movement of the left hand. The tutor, therefore, must supervise the lefthanded childs initial handwriting instruction quite closely so that the
child not only learns the correct left-to-right direction of writing but
also recognizes his reversals when he makes them. It is important to provide enough practice at the early stages of instruction to establish correct
writing habits.
If, however, a left-handed child comes to the tutor with the habit of
hooking already firmly fixed, he should be taught to write by placing the
paper in the same position as does the right-handed writer. He keeps his
wrist somewhat on edge and flexes it while writing.

Materials Used in Handwriting Instruction

Before starting handwriting instruction, supply yourself with the proper
sheets of ruled paper, pencils, and ballpoint pens. You will also need to

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use the blackboard. In addition, prepare a set of sixty-two cards on which

the twenty-six lower-case cursive letters, the twenty-six capital cursive
letters, and the ten cursive numerals have been accurately drawn. These
are to be used by the child at his desk as models to copy from. A simple
way to prepare such a set of cards would be to make a Xerox copy of the
complete cursive alphabet, then cut out the letters and paste them on
index cards, one to a card. You will also need model cards of the words
the child is expected to write. There are also commercially available plastic placements showing all of the cursive letters. These can be used for
copying.

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L esson 1: Introduce the subject of handwriting by telling the child that

learning to read is only half of learning to use the alphabet. The other
half is writing. Reading permits us to read the messages of others. Writing permits us to send messages of our own. Just as you learn to communicate with others by both talking and listening, you must also learn to
communicate by reading and writing. We also use writing to put down
our own thoughts which we dont want to forget.
In writing, we use the same alphabet as we do in reading, except that
the letters have been made a little differently so that they can be written
quickly. This form of the alphabet letters is called the cursive alphabet
and was invented long ago by men who wanted a fast and easy way to
write. They discovered that the fastest way to write was by joining all the
letters in a word together instead of printing each letter separately.
The most important thing in writing is to make the letters correctly
so that others can read them easily. To do this, it is important to hold
the pencil or pen in the correct way, to tilt the paper at the correct angle,
and to sit in our seats so that we can write in as comfortable a position
as possible.
Introduce the cursive alphabet and tell the child that he is going to
learn to write all twenty-six lower-case letters, all twenty-six capitals, and
the ten numeralsone at a time.
Since the child has completed Lesson One of the Reading Primer, tell
him that he is going to learn to write the letters he has already learned
to read.
Introduce the cursive letter a. Supply the child with a large, clear
model of the letter on an index card.

Write the a on the blackboard. Then take your index finger and trace
the letter a on the board, then in the air. Have the child also trace the a
in the air, simply to get the feel of the movement. Have him then trace
the a on the card with his index finger so that he learns where the writing
point starts and where it ends. Note that the index finger is the one we
write with in the sand or on vapor-covered glass. Note how much arm
movement we use in writing with our index finger. Some of that arm
movement is used when we write with an instrument. However, the fingers must also hold the instrument while writing. This requires a greater
degree of muscular coordination than the child is accustomed to. Thus it

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will take him time to write the a on his sheet of paper. Although he has
traced the letter with his finger, do not have him trace it with his pencil.
You learn to write by writing, not tracing. Have him write the a several
times, moving his pencil as directed by the arrow in the model diagram.
Make sure the child holds the writing instrument in the proper manner and is seated in a comfortable position. At the beginning, as the child
is trying to master the letter form, he will apply much more energy and
many more muscles than the task requires. This is because the childs
muscular control and coordination is still largely undeveloped. He does
not know how much energy to use and which muscles are required to
make the letter correctly. So he uses much more than he needs.
Joseph S. Taylor, former District Superintendent of Schools in New
York described this physiological process in his book Supervision and
Teaching of Handwriting:
When a child first learns to write, he energizes a great many
muscles not needed in the process. After writing has been made
automatic, only the necessary muscles are used. While the child is
self-consciously trying to get a group of muscles to act in harmony
the resulting movement is always crude and inaccurate. This is one
of the reasons why the early attempts at writing are so unsuccessful. Even if the pupil correctly sees the form he is trying to imitate,
he is unable to make his muscles execute his intention. Only by
long practice is he able to reduce the process to habit and to achieve
complete success.
Diffuseness in movement is tiresome because of the needless
expenditure of energy. The young writer grips his penholder and
holds many of the larger muscles of the body taut that are not concerned in the movement at all. Hence he soon tires. Habit corrects
this overuse of energy and thus reduces fatigue. Conscious control
of muscles requires attention. Habit hands the movement over to
the lower centers and takes it out of consciousness. Walking is a
very serious business to a child who is just learning how to do it. To
the adult it is so nearly automatic that he can dodge automobiles
and carry on a conversation at the same time.
Writing at first is a coordinated movement of the voluntary
kind. This means that many different muscles must be energized
at just the right moment and with an exact degree of strength if
the movement is to be successful. This harmony of action can be

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achieved only by long and careful practice. The object of the learner has been accomplished only when what was at first voluntary
coordination has become involuntary or automatic.
Diffusion of effort is one of the early difficulties of the learner.
He energizes groups of muscles which are not needed in writing.
Nature attacks her problems of development by producing more
than she needs and then picking out the best. Development means
the selection of the right movements out of a total mass of diffuse
movements.

Thus, the important things to stress at the beginning stages of writing

is correct hand- and instrument-holding positions, comfortable seating,
and accurate copying of the letter forms. At the beginning stage, the
child is so intent upon copying the letter forms correctly that little refinement can be taught or expected. However, he should be instructed to
follow the correct sequence of curves and strokes in every letter he writes.
How much time should be spent on each letter? As much time as
necessary to learn the letter accurately from the model and then from
memory. Most schools teach all the small letters in the first year, devoting approximately two weeks of practice to each letter. The capitals are
learned in the second year. Since cursive writing is not introduced in
most schools until the third grade, the tutored child will have an excellent head start. Thus, this handwriting course of instruction should take
two years to complete. It should keep pace, more or less, with the reading
instruction, but with reading perhaps somewhat ahead.
In the beginning, while good writing habits are being formed, speed
is of no importance. Correct letter formation is our primary goal, and
enough time should be given so that each letter is learned thoroughly.
When it is a matter of creating lifelong habits, what is taught at the beginning should be taught well.
L esson 2: Introduce cursive letter m. Provide the child with a large,
clear model of the letter.

Write the m on the blackboard. Point out its physical characteristics.

Then take your index finger and trace the m first on the board, then in
the air. Have the child also trace the m in the air, simply to get the feel

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of the movement. Have him then trace the m on the card with his index
finger. Then have him write a line of ms on his paper.
L esson 3: The child has already learned to write a and m. Show him
now how to write the word am by joining the two letters together.

Provide the child with a model am on a card to copy from. Then write
the word on the blackboard to show how the letters are joined. Point out
that you can write the entire word without lifting your pen or pencil
from the paper. Have the child practice writing am several times. Always
make sure that the child is maintaining the correct positions while writing.
L esson 4: Introduce the cursive letter n in the same manner used to
introduce cursive m. Compare the n to m.

Have the child write a line of ns.

L esson 5: The child has already learned to write a and n. Introduce him
to the word an by showing him how the two letters are joined together.

Have the child write the word an several times.

L esson 6: Review. Have the child write am and an several times, pointing out the difference between m and n. Check the childs writing position.

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Lesson 7: Introduce the cursive letter s. Follow the same procedures

used in the previous lessons.

Lesson 8: The child has already learned to write a and s. Show him how
to write the word as.

Lesson 9: Introduce the cursive letter t. Follow same procedures used

in previous lessons.

Have the child note the details of the letter, particularly that it is half
as much taller than a and is crossed.
L esson 10: The child has already learned to write a and t. Write at on
the board and have the child note the height of the t in relation to the
a. Provide a word card and have the child write at on his paper several
times.

L esson 11: Review. Have the child practice writing as, at, am, and an.
Make sure the child leaves enough space between the words.
Lesson 12: Introduce the cursive letter x. Follow the same procedures
used in earlier lessons.

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Lesson 13: The child has already learned to write a and x. Now teach
him to join these two letters to write the word ax.

L esson 14: See if the child can tackle such three-letter words as tax,
tan, mat, sat, made up of letters he has already learned to write. Supply
him with models to copy from. Do not be concerned if the child lifts his
pencil off the paper in the middle of the words. A three-letter word may
be too fatiguing for him to negotiate without a pause. While the tutor
should be aware of the slant of the writing and the spacing between the
letters, the most important thing at this time is still the correctness of
writing position and letter forms.

L esson 15: Introduce the cursive letter h. This is the first loop letter the
child has been introduced to. Have the child write a line of hs.

L esson 16: With his newly learned h have the child write the words hat,
ham, has. Provide the child with model word cards from which to copy.

L esson 17: Introduce the child to cursive capital letter S. While the rest
of the capital letters will be taken up after completing the small letters,
we are introducing the capital S at this point to teach the child additional
concepts.

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Explain that capital letters are used at the beginning of proper names
and sentences. Write the name Sam to illustrate. Have the child practice
writing the capital S from a card model.
L esson 18: Have the child write his first sentence: Sam sat. Explain that
a sentence is a group of words forming a complete thought. It begins
with a capital letter and ends with an end mark, in this case a period. If
the sentence is a question, we end it with a question mark.

Lesson 19: Introduce the cursive letter d.

Have the child write a line of ds and the words dad, add.

L esson 20: Have the child add d to an to produce the word and. Show
the child how to write the words and, sand, hand.

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Lesson 21: Introduce the cursive letter l. This is another loop letter.

Have the child write a line of ls and the word lad.

Lesson 22: Introduce the cursive letter w. Compare w to m.

Have the child write a line of ws and the word wax.

Lesson 23: Introduce the cursive letter b. Note the loop and height of
the letter.

Have the child write a line of bs and the words bad, bat, ban.

Lesson 24: Introduce the cursive letter c.

Have the child write a line of cs and the words cat, can, cab.

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Lesson 25: Introduce the cursive letter f. Point out the loops above and
below the line.

Have the child write a line of f s and the words fat, fan, fad.

L esson 26: Introduce the cursive letter g. This is another letter with a
loop below the line. Show how it starts as an a, then goes below the line.

Have the child write a line of gs and the words gag, gab, gas.

L esson 27: Introduce the cursive letter j. This is another letter with a
loop below the line. Note the dot over the j.

Have the child write a line of js and the words jab, jam.

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Lesson 28: Introduce the cursive letter r.

Have the child write a line of rs and the words rag, ran, rat.

Lesson 29: Introduce the cursive letter v.

Have the child write a line of vs and the words van, vat.

L esson 30: Introduce the cursive letter p.

Have the child write a line of ps and the words pat, pan.

Lesson 31: Introduce the cursive letter y.

Have the child write a line of ys and the words yam, yap.

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145

Lesson 32: Introduce the cursive letter z.

Have the child write a line of zs and the word zag.

Lesson 33: Introduce the cursive letter e.

Have the child write a line of es and the words egg, bed, fed, leg.

Lesson 34: Introduce the cursive letter i. Note the dot over the i.

Have the child write a line of is and the words in, is, it, if, ill.

Lesson 35: Introduce cursive letter o.

Have the child write a line of os and the words of on, ox, dog, hot, pop.

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Lesson 36: Introduce the cursive letter u.

Have the child write a line of us and the words up, us, tub, rug.

Lesson 37: Introduce the cursive letter q. Compare it to g.

Explain that the q is always followed by u as in these words which the

child should write after writing a line of qs: quit, quill. Have the child
note how the dot over the i helps us to visually separate the i from the u.

Lesson 38: Introduce the cursive letter k.

Have the child write a line of ks and the words kick, kid, keg, kit.

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The next series of lessons (3963) teach the cursive capital letters.
Start with the initial letter of the childs own name and have him learn
to write his name. Then teach the other capitals in the proper sequence.
If the child is about to begin arithmetic, however, teach him to write the
cursive numerals first, before going on to the rest of the capitals. The cursive numerals are covered in lessons 64 through 71. The same procedures
used in teaching the small cursive letters should be used in teaching the
capitals and numerals. Always watch for correct writing position, good
letter forms, and do not rush the student.
Lesson 39: Introduce cursive capital letter A.

Have the child write a line of As and the words Ann, Anna, Al.

Lesson 40: Introduce cursive capital letter B.

Have the child write a line of Bs and the words Ben, Bill, Bob.

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Lesson 41: Introduce cursive capital letter C.

Have the child write a line of Cs and the words Cal, Carl, Carol.

Lesson 42: Introduce cursive capital letter D.

Have the child write a line of Ds and the words Dan, Don, Dennis.

Lesson 43: Introduce cursive capital letter E.

Have the child write a line of Es and the words Ed, Eli, Eliza.

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Lesson 44: Introduce cursive capital letter F.

Have the child write a line of Fs and the words Fred, Frank, France.

Lesson 45: Introduce cursive capital letter G.

Have the child write a line of Gs and the words Guy, Gail, God.

Lesson 46: Introduce cursive capital letter H.

Have the child write a line of Hs and the words Hal, Helen, Henry.

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Lesson 47: Introduce cursive capital letter I.

Have the child write a line of Is and the words I, Ida, Inez.

Lesson 48: Introduce cursive capital letter J.

Have the child write a line of Js and the words Jean, John, Jim.

Lesson 49: Introduce cursive capital letter K.

Have the child write a line of K s and the words Ken, Kathy, Kit.

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Lesson 50: Introduce cursive capital letter L.

Have the child write a line of Ls and the words Len, Lucy, Lil.

Lesson 51: Introduce cursive capital M.

Have the child write a line of Ms and the words Max, Mike, Millie.

Lesson 52: Introduce cursive capital letter N

Have the child write a line of Ns and the words Nat, Nick, Neil.

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Lesson 53: Introduce cursive capital letter O.

Have the child write a line of Os and the words Otto, Olga, Orson.

Lesson 54: Introduce cursive capital letter P.

Have the child write a line of Ps and the words Pete, Peg, Polly.

Lesson 55: Introduce cursive capital letter Q.

Have the child write a line of Qs and the words Quentin, Queenie,
Quinn.

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Lesson 56: Introduce cursive capital letter R.

Have the child write a line of Rs and the words Ron, Rex, Ricky.

Lesson 57: Introduce cursive capital letter T.

Have the child write a line of Ts and the words Tom, Tim, Tony.

Lesson 58: Introduce cursive capital letter U.

Have the child write a line of Us and the words United States and
U.S.A. This will also give the child a chance to review cursive capital S,
which was learned in Lesson 17.

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Lesson 59: Introduce cursive capital letter V.

Have the child write a line of V s and the words Vince, Vicky, Vivian.
Lesson 60: Introduce cursive capital letter W.

Have the child write a line of W s and the words Wilma, Walter.

Lesson 61: Introduce cursive capital letter X.

Have the child write a line of Xs and the words X-ray, Xavier.

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Lesson 62: Introduce cursive capital letter Y.

Have the child write a line of Y s and the words Yetta, York, Yuma.

Lesson 63: Introduce cursive capital letter Z.

Have the child write a line of Zs and the words Zeke, Zoe, Zachary.

The following lessons teach the cursive numerals. They should be

taught when the child starts learning arithmetic. Use the same techniques in teaching the cursive numerals as were used in teaching the
cursive letters, with the same attention to physical position and accurate
forms.

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Lesson 64: Introduce cursive numerals 1 and 2.

Have the child write alternating lines of 1s and 2s.

Lesson 65: Introduce cursive numeral 3.

Have the child write a line of 3s. If he finishes this work quickly and
is obviously ready to learn more, proceed to the next lesson.
Lesson 66: Introduce cursive numeral 4.

Have the child write a line of 4s. Also review 1, 2, and 3.

Lesson 67: Introduce cursive numeral 5.

Have the child write a line of 5s.

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157

Lesson 68: Introduce cursive numeral 6.

Have the child write a line of 6s. Review 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.

Lesson 69: Introduce cursive numeral 7.

Have the child write a line of 7s. If he finishes this work quickly and
is obviously ready to learn more, proceed to the next lesson.
Lesson 70: Introduce cursive numeral 8.

Have the the child write a line of 8s.

Lesson 71: Introduce cursive numerals 9 and 0.

Have the child write alternating lines of 9s and 0s.

L esson 72: General review of cursive numerals. Have the child write
the entire numeral set in numerical order with attention to accurate

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form. Explain to him that these ten symbols are the basis for all arithmetic work. Have the child practice writing the numerals until he can write
them correctly from dictation.
L esson 73: Punctuation marks. Teach the question mark (?), comma
(,), exclamation point (!), quotation marks (/), and apostrophe () as
they are required in the sentences to be written by the child.
After the child has learned all of the cursive letter and numeral forms
and can write them reasonably well, the tutor should concentrate on
improving legibility and making sure that the childs writing habits are
good. Speed is developed when the writing of legible, well-formed letters
is so automatic that the child no longer need think of that aspect of his
writing. On the subject of speed, Luella Cole gave this excellent advice:
The lesson from all sports is clear enough. There is only one road to
speed in the use of any muscular skill: it lies through the development of perfect, undeviating form. Moreover, nothing kills good
form so quickly and surely as hurrying. Far from being inversely related, speed and quality of performance are inseparable. As applied
to handwriting this principle means that children should work
only for correct form and should never be hurried. They should
write at a deliberate rate enough words daily to be the equivalent of
the swimmers slow quarter-mile; it takes thousands of trials before
even a simple motion is faultless. If this general policy was followed
for the six years of elementary school, these pupils would be at the
end not only good but rapid writers.

Thus, steady practice is the only means to develop and perfect a physical skill such as handwriting. Since legibility should be the primary aim
of handwriting instruction, it is useful to know where most of our letter
malformations occur. One research study showed that the letter r accounted for about twelve percent of all writing illegibilities. It was found
that seven lettersr, u, e, a, o, s, taccounted for over half of the illegibility problems. The most common letter malformations were: ns like
us, rs like is, es closed, ds like cls, and cs like as. Sometimes illegible
letters can be read because of the context in which the word is written.
Context is an important aid in reading illegible handwriting. But the
illegibilities invariably slow down reading and are not always helped by
context.

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Four types of difficulties in letters cause over one half of all illegibilities:
(a) failure to close letters like a, g, d

(b) closing looped letters like e, l, f

(c) looping non-looped strokes as in t, i, d

(d) straight up rather than rounded strokes of such letters as r, l, i

The curved letters with no distinguishing characteristic cause most

of the illegibilities. The three biggest troublemakers among them are the
letters r, e, and a.

This being the case, it is quite possible to devise drills and exercises
which help the child overcome the tendency to make these malformations.
There is a basic simplicity at the heart of cursive handwriting which, if
understood, can suggest the way to handwriting improvement. All cursive script is reducible to three basic pen movements: the overcurve and
undercurve, both of which originate in the oval, and the push-pull slant
stroke. The entire cursive alphabet is made up of these three natural basic movements in a variet y of combinations. The oval and push-pull are
nothing more than the graphic representation of the natural movements
of the relaxed arm, wrist, hand and fingers when the paper is placed at

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the proper angle to permit better arm leverage and vision. That is why
the cursive letters took on the shape they did. Cursive writing makes use
of our most natural arm, wrist, hand and finger movements. There is
nothing strained in these movements. The coordination that is required
can be learned with practice, learned so that in a short time it becomes
wholly automatic.
Since we know the causes of most illegibilities it would be helpful
to devise exercises that can serve as preventive measures to their development. This can be done by grouping letters into the following three
categories according to their initial strokes: (a) those with an initial
downward overcurve, (b) those with an initial upward overcurve, and (c)
those with an initial upward under-curve. Remember, the over- and undercurves originate in the oval, and they can be executed in a clockwise
or counterclockwise direction, that is, upward or downward.
Letters with an initial downward overcurve are the ones that create
the closing problem. They include a, c, d, o, g, q.

Note that only the c does not close, which means that exercises with
all of these letters can draw the childs attention to the need for closing
the letters which require closing. Practice of the downward overcurve
with counterclockwise ovals could be helpful to the youngster.
Letters with an initial upward undercurve are the ones which give rise
to the closed looped-letter problem. These letters with an initial upward
undercurve include b, e, f, h, i, j, k, l, p, r, s, t, u, w.

It is obvious that the mixture of looped and non-looped letters in this

category cause the problem. The solution is to make the child aware of
those with loops and those without.
The looped letters are b, e, f, h, k, l.

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The non-looped letters are i, j, p, r, s, t, u, w.

The trick in looping the looped letters and not looping the non-looped
letters is one of practiced muscular coordination, resulting from unhurried practice of letter forms.
Letters with an initial upward overcurve include m, n, v, x, y, z.

Practice of these initial upward overcurves, the clockwise oval, can

prevent ms from looking like ws, ns from looking like us.
As for numerals, the 1 and 7 are often hard to distinguish in careless handwriting. Also, the careless writing of 3, 5, and 8 has resulted
in many calculating errors. It is estimated that these five numbers have
caused business losses running into millions of dollars.
Maintain a benevolent supervision over the childs handwriting and
try to diagnose his problems as they develop. To improve letter formation, have the child compare his product with the model. By comparing
the two he can see how far off he is. Encourage the child to verbalize
the discrepancies between his letter and the model. When a child can
see and explain his error, he understands better what must be done to
correct it.
After letter formation, the tutor must look for other things. Are the
letters too crowded together? Is the spacing uneven? What about alignment? Do the words drift off the line? Perhaps the paper has not been
placed at the proper angle. Observe the evenness of slant. Do the letters
slant too much or too little, or haphazardly? Perhaps the child is not
holding the pencil correctly. A poor, slow, crimped handwriting is usually the result of too much finger control at the exclusion of any other

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muscles. Try to get the child to relax his hand. Oval and push-pull exercises are useful in getting the child to relax his grip and to achieve more
comfortable, more fluent coordinated movements of fingers, hand, wrist,
and arm.
It is important to catch bad handwriting habits before they become
fixed. This is why close supervision is needed during the early stages of
writing instruction. Such careful initial teaching can prevent all but the
rarest types of problems from developing.
While spelling and composition are beyond the scope of this primer, we suggest that handwriting practice follow essentially the same sequence as the reading instruction in this book. In this way the child will
learn the most common spelling patterns in our language with their
many irregularities. By learning the regular spelling patterns in the logical sound-symbol order presented in the reading primer, the child will be
able to remember the spelling exceptions with little difficulty.

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Index of Lessons
1 a
2 m
3 am
4 n
5 an
6Review
7 s
8 as
9 t
10 at
11Review
12 x
13 ax
14 tax, tan, mat, sat
15 h
16 hat, ham, has
17 S
18 Sam sat.
19 d
20 and, sand, hand
21 l
22 w
23 b
24 c
25 f

26 g
27 j
28 r
29 v
30 p
31 y
32 z
33 e
34 i
35 o
36 u
37 q
38 k
39 A
40 B
41 C
42 D
43 E
44 F
45G
46 H
47 I
48 J
49 K
50 L

51 M
52 N
53 O
54 P
55 Q
56 R
57 T
58 U
59 V
60 W
61 X
62 Y
63 Z
64 1, 2
65 3
664
67 5
68 6
69 7
70 8
71 9, 0
72Review
73Punctuation

part four

ARITHMETIC
Arithmetic

n reading, we teach the child the meaning and uses of the twenty-six
alphabetic symbolsor lettersin which all of our language is written. In writing, we teach the child to write these letters in their cursive
form. In arithmetic we teach the meaning and uses of the ten numeral
symbolsa set of symbols as important to the development of our civilization as the alphabet. All arithmetic calculation is performed with these
ten remarkable symbols.
Like the alphabet, our decimal place-value arithmetic system is the
product of a very long period of development in which human beings
sought to find the best mental tools with which to express the tremendous intellectual potential they had within them. What man could do,
provided he had the right tools and social conditions, can be measured
by the incredible leap he made from the primitive agricultural civilization of the 1500s to the space-age, computer-driven civilization of the
twenty-first centurya span of just 500 years. Of that leap forward, the
greatest progress was made in the last two hundred years in the benevolent context of American freedom.

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165

This is an unbelievably short time when measured against the total

span of mans existence on earth. It indicates that for a long time man
had the intellectual potential to make that leap, but for centuries lacked
the social conditions and mental tools with which to realize it. The two
necessary tools were the alphabet and the decimal place-value arithmetic
system. Alphabetic writing was invented in about 1500 to 2000 years
B.C. But man had to wait another two thousand years before he acquired
the most effective mental tool for arithmetic calculation ever devised by
the human brain. Again, its hallmark, its genius, was its simplicity, in
which man could do much more with much less.
Alphabetic writing appears to have originated in the Sinai Peninsula
in about 1500 to 2000 B.C. It was there that Moses, raised by an Egyptian princess and educated in the hieroglyphic writing system, obtained
the Ten Commandments from God on Mount Sinai. The two tablets
were not written in hieroglyphics but in alphabetic writing. This is why
some archaeologists and theologians believe that the alphabet is of divine
origin.
The decimal place-value system came from the Hindus of India. Actually, man had started counting and using numbers very early in his
history. He began to recognize the common constellations and to create
works of art, both of which required a rudimentary sense of calculation
and geometric form.
By 4241 B.C. we reach the earliest dated event in human historythe
introduction of the Egyptian calendar of twelve months of thirty days
each, plus five feast days. This achievement required a very high level of
development in computation and astronomy. But like the hieroglyphic
writing system, the Egyptian method of calculation was a complicated,
unwieldy one which could never serve the needs of a society more advanced than its own.
Something better, more advanced, came along when the Hebrew
Scriptures began to be written in alphabetic letters, sometime in the
middle of the second millennium B.C. From that point alphabetic writing spread to the Phoenicians and then to the Greeks, who developed
their highly literate civilization, which marks the beginning of Western
ascendancy.
While the Greek counting system was easy for addition and subtraction, it was difficult for multiplication, division, and fractions. To facilitate calculation, the Greeks, as well as everyone else in the ancient
world, required the help of an abacus, a counting device derived from the

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primitive system of counting pebbles. In fact, the word calculate is derived from calx, the Latin word for pebble. Thus, in ancient Greece and in
Europe right up to the fourteenth century, specialists had to be trained
to do the kind of arithmetic calculation which today is performed by
school children with little difficulty. Yet, the Greeks were able to develop
Euclidean geometry and make other significant advances in mathematics. How was this possible? Here we must make the distinction between
arithmetic, that is, the art of counting and calculation, and mathematics,
the science or philosophy of relationships. In Greek times arithmetic was
called logistic and was considered outside the realm of science and philosophy. Logistic was the tool of commerce. Mathematics, on the other
hand, dealt with the abstractions of numbers and the relationships of
geometric forms, most of which could be discussed rhetorically, without
the use of arithmetic calculation. Euclid used no arithmetic or logistic at
all and exercised a strict taboo against using it, while other mathematicians like Archimedes and Heron used it at will without philosophical
prejudice. Mathematics was considered the purest form of philosophy, to
be studied apart from any consideration for its practical use. Thus, while
Greece made great advances in philosophical thought, its arithmetic was
just as primitive as that of any other nation. On this subject, Tobias
Dantzig* observed
One who reflects upon the history of reckoning up to the in
vention of the principle of position is struck by the paucity of
achievement. This long period of nearly five thousand years saw
the fall and rise of many a civilization, each leaving behind it a
heritage of literature, art, philosophy and religion. But what was
the net achievement in the field of reckoning, the earliest art practiced by man? An inflexible numeration so crude as to make progress well-nigh impossible, and a calculating device so limited in
scope that even elementary calculations called for the services of
an expert. And what is more, man used these devices for thousands
of years without making a single worthwhile improvement in the
instrument, without contributing a single important idea to the
system!
When viewed in this light, the achievement of the unknown
Hindu who some time in the first centuries of our era discovered
the principle of position assumes the proportions of a world event.
* Tobias Dantzig, Number, The Language of Science (New York: Macmillan, 1946).

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Not only did this principle constitute a radical departure in method, but we know now that without it no progress in arithmetic was
possible. And yet the principle is so simple that today the dullest
school boy has no difficulty in grasping it.

The date of the first known appearance of a decimal place-value notation in India is A.D. 595. The oldest reference to the place-value system
outside India is found in a work written by Severus Sebokht, a Syrian
bishop, in 662. His comments about it are interesting:
I will omit all discussion of the science of the Hindus, a people not
the same as the Syrians; their subtle discoveries in this science of
astronomy, discoveries that are more ingenious than those of the
Greeks and the Babylonians; their valuable methods of calculation;
and their computing that surpasses description. I wish only to say
that this computation is done by means of nine signs. If those who
believe, because they speak Greek, that they have reached the limits of science should know these things they would be convinced
that there are also others who know something.

The bishop referred to nine signs because the sign for zero had not
yet been invented. The Hindus had derived the place value concept from
their operation of the counting board in which each column stood consecutively for ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, etc. Somewhere along the
line it became necessary to designate a symbol for an empty column so
that the reader could tell the difference between 32, 302, 3002. And
so, writes Professor Dantzig, from all appearances, the discovery of
zero was an accident brought about by an attempt to make an unambiguous permanent record of a counting board operation.
We shall never know for certain whether the invention of zero was an
accident or a stroke of genius, but it was, according to Dantzig,
the turning-point in a development without which the progress
of modern science, industry, or commerce is inconceivable. And
the influence of this great discovery was by no means confined to
arithmetic. By paving the way to a generalized number concept, it
played as fundamental a role in practically every branch of mathematics. In the history of culture the discovery of zero will always

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168

stand out as one of the greatest single achievements of the human

race.*

How did the Hindu place-value system finally make its way into
Western culture? It was carried there by the Arabs who had adopted
the Hindu system for their own use and brought it to Europe in their
invasion of Spain. It should be noted that all this took place after the
rise of Christianity, the disintegration of the Roman Empire, and the
subsequent sweep of Islam from Arabia to Gibraltar. The Moors established their rule in Spain in 747, but it took another 500 years before the
place-value system finally swept the old Roman numerals and the abacus
from Christendom.
The first book to systematically introduce the Arab-Hindu system in
Europe was Leonardo of Pisas Liber Abaci, published in 1202. But it
wasnt until about 1500 that only Arabic numerals were used in commercial account books in Europe and the Roman numerals were discarded altogether. There were a number of reasons why the adoption
of the Hindu-Arabic system took so long. The main reason, however,
was the difficulty people had in adopting a new set of symbols for their
numbers and in using the symbols themselves in the calculating process. It
was quite difficult for many accountants to make the leap from abacus
counting (that is, one-to-one concrete counting) to symbolic or abstract
counting (that is, counting by the use of the abstract symbols alone).
Symbolic counting won out, however, because it was so much faster and
the place-value system permitted all calculation to be done with only
ten symbols. It took time before people realized that the key to the most
efficient use of this system was memory. Once you memorized the addition, subtraction, multiplication and division tables for the first ten
numbers, you could perform any arithmetic calculation on paper with
great speed. Once the key role of memory in this system was understood,
the problem became one of developing the most efficient techniques of
memorizationfrom which the notion of drills originated.
By the end of the fifteenth century, all the techniques (or algorithms,
as mathematicians call them) which we now use to add, subtract, multiply and divide were fully developed. In other words, modern arithmetic
is scarcely five hundred years old. Thus the gap between the abacus and
the computer is less than five hundred years. It was the New Arithmetic
which made our technology possible.
*Ibid.

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Pierre Laplace, the eighteenth-century French mathematician, eloquently summed up the importance of the place-value system when he
wrote:
It is India that gave us the ingenious method of expressing all numbers by means of ten symbols, each symbol receiving a value of position as well as an absolute value; a profound and important idea
which appears so simple to us now that we ignore its true merit.
But its very simplicity and the great ease which it has lent to all
computations put our arithmetic in the first rank of useful inventions; and we shall appreciate the grandeur of this achievement the
more when we remember that it escaped the genius of Archimedes
and Apollonius, two of the greatest men produced by antiquity.

And thus it is probable that the space age would have never come
into being had the place-value system and the symbol for zero not been
invented.
In teaching the child arithmetic, it is important to convey to him the
genius of the system itself. Next to the alphabet, it is the greatest mental
tool ever devised by man. Therefore we should approach the subject with
the excitement and interest it deserves. Any teacher who makes arithmetic dull does so because he or she does not understand its beautiful
simplicity, its logic, and its facility which permit us to do so much with
so little. The ten-symbol place-value system is perhaps the diamond of
human intellect. It and the alphabet are the childs greatest intellectual
inheritance. Both sets of symbols represent the distilled genius of the
human race. It is therefore obvious that such gifts must be presented in
such a way as to make the child appreciate what these symbols can do for
him in furthering his own potential and happiness.
At this point, it would be appropriate to discuss the matter of arithmetic and the New Math. Among educators today there is a tremendous
confusion between what we mean by arithmetic and what we mean by
mathematics. Arithmetic is no longer taught as arithmetic. It has been
submerged, fragmented, and scrambled in a much larger area of study
called Elementary Mathematicsmore popularly known as the New
Math. Because of this, students scarcely become aware of the decimal
place-value system as a complete arithmetic system quite separate and distinct from the rest of the subject matter in elementary mathematics. The
result is that students learn arithmetic very poorly and very haphazardly.

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With this tutoring book, the tutor can teach the basic arithmetic system without the distractions of the irrelevant mathematical theories and
concepts taught in the New Math. Once the child has mastered the
arithmetic system, hell be in a much better position to deal with the
often confusing theories and concepts of the New Math.
There has been some discussion among parents and teachers over the
practical value of the New Math to the child. Most of us use a great
deal of arithmetic throughout our livesfilling out income tax returns,
balancing our checking accounts, buying on credit, figuring out mortgage payments, everyday purchasing at the supermarket, etc. But few
of us ever use the algebra, geometry and trigonometry we were taught
in school. This is not an argument against teaching algebra, geometry
and trigonometry. But it is an argument for teaching arithmetic as thoroughly and systematically as possible in the primary grades.
Arithmetic, in the form of our decimal place-value system, is one of
the most useful tools a child can learn to master. Since a knowledge of
arithmetic is vital to an individuals economic survival and success, it
should be given top priority in the curriculum of the elementary school.
Unfortunately, arithmetic is considered a sort of stepchild in the
house of mathematics and is given little attention by the curriculum developers. If it hadnt been for the ingenious invention of the Hindu placevalue system, mathematicians wouldnt even bother to teach arithmetic
at all. They would have left it to the counting specialist. As we mentioned
earlier, the Greek mathematicians looked down on arithmetic as being
unworthy of their attention. In todays primary school curriculum, arithmetic has been mathematized out of existence. Teachers no longer talk
about arithmetic. They talk only of mathematicsthe word arithmetic
having been virtually stricken from the schoolroom vocabulary.
For most people, however, arithmetic, like the alphabet, is considered
so simple a concept that we forget how complex it really is. Those of
us who went to school in previous generations were taught arithmetic
mainly by rote. We learned how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide
without any trouble because we were taught to memorize our tables
the arithmetic factsand drilled in them constantly. We knew that the
multiplication and long-division methods worked, but we didnt know
why they worked or who had invented these methods, or when they had
come into use. For all we knew, man had been doing long division since
the beginning of time. If something worked, we gave little thought as to
why it worked or who first worked it out. Nor did it seem necessary for

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us to know why it worked or who invented it. The value of the methods
we were using was so obvious that other considerations were of no importance. If a child discovers that a dollar bill is worth so much candy in
a store, he is not interested in the history of money at that point or the
theory of supply and demand. He is much more interested in learning
how to get more dollars so that he can exchange them for more candy. If
we stopped him in his tracks and told him that he ought to know the history of money before using it, he might find our history quite irrelevant
to his immediate pursuit.
The same situation applies to the learning of arithmetic. When the
child is being taught the rudiments of addition and subtraction, he is
much more interested in the fact that the methods being taught work
and permit him to master counting than in why the methods work. The
why is quite irrelevant at this point in learning. That is why it was possible for children to become so proficient in arithmetic by rote learning.
They saw, in the doing, that it workedand they did it.
Today, all that rote learning has been thrown out the schoolroom
window and a feeble attempt is being made to explain to the child how
addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division work. Unfortunately,
the explanations are not very good and often much too confusing and
tiresome, with the result that children neither learn to perform arithmetic well nor understand it.
Therefore, in this book we shall teach the child both to perform arithmetic well and to understand it, but with the strict proviso that in teaching a child to use a complex abstract system it is not always desirable
to precede instruction with understanding. Sometimes such premature
understanding can, in fact, retard performance. For example, if we
taught a child the grammatic structure of our language before he began
to speak, he might never speak for fear of being wrong. The child learns
to speak completely on his own before he knows anything about grammar, correct pronunciation, parts of speech, or the origin of words. He
speaks because he finds out by experience that speaking works. He finds
himself understood, and he goes on to increase his speaking vocabulary
and to improve his pronunciation so that he can make himself better
understood. To explain to him at the earliest stages of his mastery why
language works or how it works would be of little help, and in fact, might
hinder and confuse him. So we leave the child alone and let him learn
to speak on his own, making minor corrections here and there so that he
can improve his pronunciation and be better understood.

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Sometimes an understanding of a method comes automatically with

the learning. Sometimes it has to be given quite separately and for reasons other than learning how to use the method. When we study the history of language or philology, we do so only peripherally to improve our
working use of the language. Our main interest is in discovering how
the human race developed linguistically. The same is true of arithmetic.
When we study the history of arithmetic, it is not to help us use arithmetic better. That can only be done by drilling the tables until we know
them cold. We study the history of arithmetic to give us insights into the
development of civilization, the development of methods, etc., but only
peripherally to improve our working mastery of arithmetic.
Therefore, in teaching the child arithmetic, we should not allow ourselves to confuse the idea of a working knowledge with that of intellectual understanding. In teaching an abstract system to a child, a working
knowledge must precede intellectual understanding. It is on this principle that the child learns to speak. It is on this principle that civilization
has advanced. Man progressed from the earliest times to complex civilization primarily because he imitated what worked for his predecessors.
Children learn by imitating adults. When they become adults themselves and discover why something works, they make improvements.
Their children imitate these improvements and thus a higher level of
civilization is reached.
The interesting thing about arithmetic is that until the development
of the Hindu decimal place-value system, very little improvement had
been made in the art of calculation over a very long period of time.
Nevertheless, advances were being made in every other field. However,
the invention of the new decimal place-value system was so significant a
breakthrough that it permitted us to make the leap from the primitive
agricultural society of 1500 to our space-age, computer-driven technology of 2013 in less than just five hundred years.
Until the 1950s, most of our children were taught the decimal placevalue system of arithmetic by rote. The only people who were interested
in the how and why of it were the theoretical mathematicians who
were intrigued by this ingenious tool and began to take it apart to see
what made it tick. Many who took it apart, however, couldnt quite put it
together again. Others came up with some discoveries about the system
which could later be applied in the building of computers. However,
none of this information was of any use to a child learning to master our

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arithmetic system. The system, as a practical tool, had been perfected by

its users over the centuries.
Since most people eventually find out that arithmetic is all the mathematics they will ever need in their lifetimes, it is important to distinguish between arithmetic and mathematics. Arithmetic is a counting
system, a tool of economic man. It helps him deal with quantity, money,
and measurement, all of which relate to practical everyday living. It is the
practical tool which enables man to conduct the economic business of
his life with speed, accuracy, and efficiency. Arithmetic, in other words,
is much more allied to the world of commerce and industry than it is to
the world of mathematical speculation and theorization.
Arithmetic goes with those areas of interest in which computation
plays an important part: economics, government, taxation, accounting,
business management, etc. Mathematics, on the other hand, is more
closely allied to physics, chemistry, engineering, astronomy, philosophy,
metaphysics, etc. Thus, in developing a curriculum, it can be shown that
arithmetic and mathematics lead toward two divergent paths of interest
and activity. Of course, in our complex technological civilization, all
subject matter is interrelated. Reading, for example, is required in every
field where the written word is used. But we teach reading as a separate
and distinct skill. The same ought to be the case with arithmetic. Arithmetic is used in business as well as in mathematics and scientific calculation, and for this reason it should be taught as a separate and distinct
discipline which the growing youngster can later adapt to his chosen
field of interest.
What is arithmetic? Arithmetic is simply the art of counting. All
arithmetic functions (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division)
are merely different ways of counting. In addition we count forward. In
subtraction we count backward. In multiplication we count in multiples,
which is merely a faster way of counting forward when dealing with large
quantities. In division, the same principle is applied in the reverse direction. Until the invention of the Hindu place-value system all counting
(or calculation and computing) was performed by way of abacuses and
counting boards, in which quantitative units were represented by concrete objects such as pebbles or beads. Written numbers were used only
to record totals.
The advent of the Hindu system marked a radical departure from
this primitive concrete counting method. It permitted the accountant to
do his calculating with the written symbols themselves. But to do this

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well, the accountant had to become proficient in the use of the abstract
number symbols. The entire counting process had to be transferred from
a pebble-manipulating process to a purely mental process using written symbols or numbersfrom the concrete to the abstract, and from
the manipulation of things to the manipulation of symbols representing
quantities.
It is useful in dealing with the subject of abstraction (about which
there is so much confusion in the minds of adults as well as children)
to define our terms as accurately as possible. The words abstract and
abstraction are used in so many different ways to mean so many different things, that people can easily be confused unless they understand the
sense in which the term is used by a writer. One of the growing problems
in communication today is the great proliferation of new words meaning
new things, new words meaning old things, and old words being used
in new ways. Dictionaries cannot keep up with the changes in spoken
and written language, with the result that communication in complex
areas of thought is on the verge of a breakdown. This is particularly true
in modern pedagogy, where educators with different views and different axes to grind refuse to agree on definitions of terms. Sometimes the
confusion is deliberately encouraged so that under the cover of verbal fog
some educators can reap professional and financial benefits which clear
verbal sunlight might make impossible.
In dealing with arithmetic in the context of the New Math it is very
important to understand the terms being used, for the New Math has
smothered arithmetic in a mass of so many new, complex, ill-defined
words that both teacher and pupil can easily lose their way. Parents are
so intimidated by the whole complicated approach, that they simply stay
away from the New Math. Arithmetic wasnt always this coveted by the
mathematician. In fact, arithmetic was of little interest to theoretical
mathematicians while it was in its pebble-counting stage. The moment it
began to use abstract symbols they took a closer look.
The verb abstract and the noun abstraction are derived from the Latin
word abstrahereto draw away from. This definition essentially describes
how abstractions are created. The idea, or mental image, is drawn away
from the concrete. It becomes an abstraction in our heads. How did this
occur with numbers? Numbers, expressed verbally, are simply quantity
names. Man was clearly created with an innate concept of quantity, and
the use of numbers was a natural development. By putting numbers in

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written form, man could finally deal with abstractions as if they were
concrete realities.
Spoken language gave man the power to concretize elusive mental images, feelings and actions, so that he could get a firm grip on them. Spoken words became the first symbols to represent and thus communicate
to others the abstractions in his head. By giving the ideas names he could
anchor them down more securely, he could confirm their existence, and
he could, in a sense, increase their reality. All of us know the power of
words and man must have become aware of this phenomenon very early
in his use of speech.
Also, spoken words enabled man to handle his abstractions with
greater precision and thus to exert better mental control over them. The
same was true of feelings and actions. By naming them he could better
identify and understand them. To name something, it should be noted,
is simply to designate it with a spoken expression. The common expression What do you call it? sums up the naming process.
The important thing to understand here is the level of abstraction each
word represents. The first level is a specific word applying to a specific
object in reality. The relationship of the spoken symbol to the concrete is
direct. The drawing away is only one step, or one level, away. On this
level is also the generalized use of name words like house, cat, dog
when referring to a specific entity. When we think of feeding the cat
we are generally thinking of a specific cat. When the infant says mama
and dada he is referring to specific people he knows, not to the concept
of mother and father, or parenthood, or reproduction. When we use
the word sun we are referring to that specific ball of yellow in the sky.
Now, of course, we also speak of other suns in other solar systems.
Thus, in everyday speech we all use first-level abstractions in great
abundance. The language of all children learning to speak is made up
exclusively of first-level abstractions because they are the easiest to learn
and have a direct connection to a concrete object. The child learns them
by trial and error. He discovers which ones work and he is thrilled by the
sense of discovery he experiences as he adds more and more words to his
vocabulary. It should be noted that first-level abstractions include more
than just names of objects. They include moral abstractions having to do
with behavior as in such phrases as good boy and bad boy, and action
and feeling abstractions having to do with eating, drinking, walking,
running, wanting, hurting, and the body functions.

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The first arithmetic abstractions the child learns are those dealing
with measurement: big and little; or quantity: a little bit, a lot,
more, less, one, two, three. Are these first-level abstractions?
From what concrete objects are they drawn? Big and little are concepts having to do with comparisons. He learns the concepts of big
and little because they are applied in concrete situations all around
him: big brother, little baby, small kitten, big dog, little puppy. Big and little become second-level abstractions because they
are drawn away from first-level abstractions. Thus, the most elementary
arithmetic concepts or ideas are second-level abstractions, twice removed
from the concrete.
It is obvious that the transition to the use of second-level abstractions
by a child represents a considerable intellectual development. He achieves
this development all by himself through his own trial-and-error method
of discovery. Obviously he is helped in this development by those around
him whom he is trying to understand and imitate. It is also obvious that
this transition to second-level abstractions is an uneven process. It takes
time before one graduates from an understanding between good boy,
bad boy, to good behavior, bad behavior, and the ethical concepts
of good and evil.
The point we wish to make is that spoken language is a means of
concretizing all abstraction and that there are different levels of abstraction, that is, ideas which may be once, twice, or three times removed
from the original source in realityincluding our own organic reality.
It should be noted that no matter how complex our civilization becomes,
we are always adding new first-level abstractions to our vocabulary:
rocket, missile, airplane, telephone, computer, light bulb, website. These are
the easiest spoken abstractions to learn, no matter how complicated the
origin of the words. They are simply names for concretes. While we are
increasing the number of first-level abstractions in our vocabulary, we
are also increasing the number of second- and third-level abstractions.
Here is where we get into difficult problems of definition and here is the
source of our present semantic confusion. The knowledge explosion has
brought with it the abstraction explosion. In the field of mathematics the
confusion is great. Much of it is due to the proliferation of undefined
terms and the mixed use of alphabetic words with hieroglyphic symbols.
The imposition of this mathematical confusion on arithmetic is causing
many children great learning difficulties.

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What is the origin of arithmetic abstraction? As early mans economic

life grew, it became more and more necessary to keep track of larger
and different quantities of goods and cattle. There is probably no concept more elusive than quantity. We can all conjure up mental images
of two items, three items, four and five items. But very soon the mind
simply cannot cope with larger quantities in this manner. The only way
man could concretize and thus get a better grip on the idea of quantity
was to give names to specific quantities. These names became known as
numbers.
Thus, language permitted man to concretize the elusive idea of quantity. By naming quantities man put a handle on something which does
not exist in nature but exists in his head for his own use. As the quantities men dealt with increased, the number names over ten became compounds of the finger names, simplifying both the naming and the counting process. All this was done verbally, but because men were so used to
calculating with the actual ten fingers, they easily learned to count in
tens and to use a ten-base system. Permanent records were made with
notches on wood, bundles of sticks, knots tied on a rope and other concrete devices.
In time man developed written symbols for the numbers, merely as
a means of recording totals. All calculation, however, was performed by
using such concretes as counting boards and abacuses.
With the advent of the alphabet, spoken numbers could also be written out phonetically. However, this was of no help from a computational
point of view. Ideographic and hieroglyphic number symbols were still
used for arithmetic notation and their use in computation was minimal. To clarify the distinction between ideographic and hieroglyphic
numbers, we might say that line markings or a series of dots indicating
units would be an ideographic way of writing numbers. They are the
simplest graphic substitutes for concretes. The use of one symbol (a letter or a unique graphic design) to represent more than one unit would
be a hieroglyphic number. All our Arabic numbers are hieroglyphics or
ideographs. The Greeks used alphabet letters as number hieroglyphics
but failed to devise a place-value system whereby they could be used in
computation. The Roman numbers were a mixture of ideographs and
hieroglyphics, that is, a combination of unit marks and letters. This mixture of graphic concretes with abstract symbols proved to be quite unworkable for computation.

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It is important to understand the complexity of the mental process

involved in mans development of a counting system. When man first
gave names to his fingers in order to count small quantities, he probably
first conveyed the idea of a total by counting each unit until he reached
the last one. Thus, to say three he had to say one, two, three. Eventually he shortened the process so that whenever he said three everyone
knew he meant the total, and not merely a position in sequence. What
is significant is that each number came to represent not only a position
in sequence and a specific quantity, but also the counting process itself
which was implicit in the naming of a total.
Thus, there was much more involved in the naming of quantities than
one might suspect. By telescoping the counting process in each number
over one, numbers took on an added abstract dimension. Thus, a number is a complex symbol with three important meanings: position in sequence (a first-level abstraction), quantity or total (a second-level abstraction), and the counting process itself whereby quantity is determined
(another second-level abstraction). Remember, quantity or total does not
exist in nature, and it is impossible for man to separate quantity from a
counting process used to determine it. However, our minds, always eager
to find shortcuts, combine the two concepts in one symbol with no difficulty whatever. It is the law of the conservation of energy which makes
such efficient mental functioning possible.
All of this is true for the verbal numbers as well as our Arabic number symbols. All verbal numbers represent position in sequence, specific
quantity, and the counting process. How do we know which meaning is
intended? The context of our speech gives us clues. We say He is third
or refer to page 25 to indicate position. When we say My house has
ten windows we indicate total as well as the fact that we counted the
windows. When we say I started with 100 dollars and have only 50
left we are speaking about totals but the counting process is somewhat
implicit. When we use our Arabic numbers, their meaning is further enhanced by the added dimension of place-value. For example, the number
123 represents the one-hundred-and-twenty-third position, the quantity
of one-hundred-and-twenty-three units, and the counting process used
to determine that total. But the position of the numerals in the number
also determine their value in computation. It is quite possible to learn
by sight-reading that the hieroglyphic 123 stands for one-hundred-andtwenty-three without knowing anything about place value. But if you

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want to compute with that number, you must know the meaning of
place value.
Thus, our Arabic numbers have four meanings while our verbal numbers have only three. Is place value a first- or second-level abstraction? To
answer that we must go back to the concrete object from which placevalue was drawn. That concrete was the counting board, in which each
column represented ones, tens, hundreds, etc. We should imagine that
this would make place value a first-level abstraction, except that in the
counting board itself was incorporated the second-level abstraction of
multiplication in all the columns except the unit column. The zero was
invented to indicate an empty column so that the accountant could indicate the different values of the digit 3 in 3, 30 (3 tens), 300 (3 one hundreds). Thus, the zero was a first-level abstraction drawn from an empty
column, but the digit 3 in 30 and 300 took on an additional second-level
abstract meaning (i.e., multiplication by tens, hundreds, etc.). By transferring the second-level abstraction incorporated in the counting board
directly to the numerals on paper, we can dispense with the counting
board altogether, which is what happened when the Hindu system was
adopted by Europeans.
Thus, in place-value notation, each numeral assumes an additional
second-level abstract meaning. This includes the zero. Although it started out as a first-level abstraction, it has taken on a second-level abstract
dimension by becoming an integral part of a hieroglyphic number used
in computation. Standing by itself, symbolizing the absence of quantity,
the zero performs the unique function of concretizing the idea of nothing.
What an incredible ideathat nothing could be concretized! In a way,
it symbolizes mans awesome ability to deal with abstraction in daring,
versatile, and ingenious ways.
What does all this mean? It means that behind the beautiful simplicity of our ten-symbol arithmetic system is a highly complex circuitry of
abstraction. When we deal with numbers in arithmetic our minds are
dealing simultaneously with four different meanings on two different
levels of abstraction. This is no problem for an adult, but it is for a child
of five or six. That is why arithmetic must be taught to children in a
very orderly wayone thing at a time, to avoid the confusions that bad
teaching can easily cause. Despite the complexity behind the system,
once it is understood, the system easily suggests how it should be taught.
First, we must understand that arithmetic is nothing more than a
tool for memory. Its prime function is to keep track of quantity and per-

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mit us to calculate quantity. The systems chief way of keeping track of

quantity is by serial countingthat is, naming totals in sequence. Thus,
the first step in teaching a child arithmetic is to teach him to count. As
he is taught to count verbally, he is also taught to associate the number
symbols with specific quantities. He does this by counting units. To do
this he can use fingers or pennies. Since our ten-base system is derived
from our fingers, our fingers are the most natural and convenient counting board the child can have. The use of these concrete units are only
necessary up to ten, for beyond ten he is dealing with ten plus units of
one, and all this can and should be done with the ten symbols he will be
using for the rest of his life.
The instruction in this arithmetic primer has been arranged in steps,
rather than lessons, for the simple reason that the skills involved lend
themselves more conveniently to this kind of arrangement. A step may
include concepts and skills which require a day to master, or a week,
or a month before the child is ready to move on to the next step. It is
important that the child master the material in one step before going on
to the next. If the tutor finds the child becoming confused, one should
then go back to the earliest point where the child was on solid ground
and proceed again slowly in order to discover where the pupil missed the
point. Do not proceed further until what was missed has been mastered.
It is suggested that the tutor read through the entire course of instruction before starting to teach it. In that way the tutor will gain a better
overall grasp of the methods and concepts used. It will be noted, for
example, that once the child has learned what the quantity numbers 1
through 10 stand for, we use few problems with concretes for the child to
solve. This is deliberate. Our arithmetic system is based on the manipulation of symbolsnot apples, oranges, buttons, or other concrete units.
These concretes hinder the development of automatic adding because
they make the child think in terms of unit counting instead of adding,
subtracting, multiplying or dividing with quantities or totals represented
by number symbols.
Besides, most of these unit-counting problems are artificial, unreal,
and boring. It isnt the numbers that bore children but the ridiculous
items that textbooks attach to them. Children never have to perform
arithmetic problems in real life with apples, balloons, cowboys, or peppermint sticks. They do count money, box tops, trading stamps, and
birthday candles. The child is not bored with arithmetic per se, which in
itself is an interesting mental game. But he does get bored with meaning-

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less problems which bind him to concrete unit counting and thereby
retard his learning to add numbers automatically. The child wants to get
on with the learning of arithmetic, not to determine how many monkeys
you have left if you take two out of a cage holding five. No child will ever
be confronted with the problem of counting monkeys and he doesnt
know any adults who will have to count them either. It is such unreal
problems which give children the feeling that arithmetic itself is unreal.
Thus, avoid all counting problems which are clearly out of the realm
of reality. Have the child count those things he would normally have
to count or want to count, or those things which adults have to count
but which lend themselves to instructional use by children. The childs
weekly allowance or savings program might make an excellent basis for
teaching elementary calculation.
Also, most of the arithmetic problems in todays primary textbooks
are based on baby-think. It is assumed that a child must be surrounded
by an array of baby chicks, circus clowns, and party hats in order to learn
anything. We strongly disagree with this philosophy and suggest that
the playful paraphernalia of babyhood not be permitted to smother the
substance of learning. One should have respect for the childs intellectual
capacity and curiosity, knowing how much he has learned by himself
in his own way without the use of balloons and toy bugles. It should be
noted that when children play games, they imitate adults not children.
A little girl with a doll is trying to play the role of an adult mother to the
best of her understanding. A little boy playing cowboys and Indians, or
playing the role of a train motorman or jet pilot, is trying to act the part
of a grown man.
Therefore, when we introduce the child to something as abstract as
our arithmetic system, we must appeal to the budding adult in him, the
part of him that has a curiosity about the outer world and wants to master basic skills. The way to instructional success is to teach one concept at
a time, making that concept understandable and providing enough time
and practice for the child to master what he is being taught.
All counting is a function of memory, and our arithmetic system depends on memorization for its most efficient use. Children enjoy memorizing if it is taught well, with good humor and patience, and as a learning
challenge. Any child can be taught to memorize. Because memorizing
is based on imitation, it is the easiest form of learning. That is why our
arithmetic system lends itself so readily to the primary school curriculum. Counting itself is simply the memorization of additions by one. If

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a child can learn to count from one to a hundred, he can be taught to

memorize the multiplication tables as well.
Remember, we are preparing the child now for what he will be doing twenty years from now. It is important that we keep this long-range
view in mind and not let the colorful but mentally empty paraphernalia
of childhood obscure the fact that sooner than we think this child will
be an adult using the skills we taught him each and every day of his life.
Step 1: Find out the extent of the childs understanding of arithmetic
concepts. Children of six will vary greatly in the amount of arithmetic
knowledge they have picked up through their informal way of learning.
Discuss the meaning of such words and phrases as more, less, a little bit, a
lot, many, few. Find out the extent of the childs verbal counting ability.
Some children of six can count as high as thirty. Others may not be able
to count to ten. The ability to count, however, does not necessarily mean
that the child understands the meaning of the numbers he recites. Therefore, ask the child if he understands what the numbers mean and why we
use them. If he cannot give adequate answers, explain to him that numbers are used so that we can know exactly how many of anything we have
or may need. For example, if we know that a candy bar we want costs five
cents, then we know exactly how many pennies to get from mother. If
we know that our friend Tim will be six on his next birthday, then well
know exactly how many candles to put on his cake.
Establish the idea of exactness with number. Number tells us exactly
how many as opposed to a few or a lot.
Step 2: Write the Arabic numbers 1 through 10 on the blackboard and
have the child learn to read them in proper sequence. Our purpose is
to teach the child to identify the spoken number with its hieroglyphic
counterpart. Also teach the child to write the numbers in conjunction
with his handwriting lessons. Since we only use the Arabic symbols in
arithmetic, the phonetically written numbers should be taught as part
of reading instruction and not arithmetic. To include the spelled-out
numbers at this point would detract from the arithmetic purpose of his
learning.
As the child learns to identify a spoken number with a number symbol, he is also learning to count. Counting consists of naming quantities

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in their proper sequence, the constantly repeated sequence being the best
aid to memory of the quantity names. Remember, counting is a pure task
of memorization, and it is as difficult for a child to learn to count by ones
as it is for an older child or many an adult to count by sevens or nines.
If the child is given many opportunities to use his counting he will learn
it quickly. Counting is perfected when it becomes completely automatic,
that is, the child can repeat the numbers in sequence without hesitation
and without thinking about them. This is a goal which only repeated
counting makes possible.
Learning to count over ten is a lot easier than learning to count to ten,
for numbers over ten are compounds of ten or tens with units repeated
in the same original sequence of one through ten.
If the child can already count to ten and beyond, review his counting
ability and teach him to associate the verbal number with the number
symbol as far as he can count verbally. Then use your discretion in expanding his verbal and symbolic counting ability at this time. If there is
good indication that he can easily learn to count to fifty or one hundred
at this time, let him do so. With todays inflation, children are exposed
to much larger sums in their purchases than were the children of twenty
and thirty years ago. However, do not assume that because a child of six
verbalizes a large number, he knows what it means. In general, it is not
very valuable to the child to learn counting in the higher decades if he
does not know the meaning of the numbers one through ten.
Step 3: In teaching the numbers one through ten, make sure the child
understands the meaning of each number. He learns sequential position
(the ordinal sense of the number) through recitation, but he must be
taught the quantities each number stands for (the cardinal sense of the
number). This can be done by the use of concrete units, such as fingers
or pennies.
An easy way to teach the child the meaning of each number is to have
him show you how many fingers make 3, or 5, or 7, etc. Also, with the
use of pennies you can ask the child to give you 3 cents, 5 cents, 4 cents,
8 cents, etc., until the quantity which each number stands for is firmly
established in his mind.
Fingers make an excellent unit counting board since they are always
available. Also, since our numbering system is based on finger counting, the correlation between number symbol and the concrete units is

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perfect. The ten fingers provide an excellent concrete reference for the
ten-base system. They also provide an easy, visible proof of the fact that
5 and 5 are 10, and that 2 times 5 are 10. These number relationships are
so solidly based on our own physical reality that they become the most
useful reference points the child can have in the entire number system.
Also, later, in unit counting over ten, the child will learn through the
spoken number, number symbol, and his fingers that eleven is ten-plusone, twelve is ten-plus-two, etc. The compound names suggest the addition process in terms of ten. Therefore, the use of the fingers makes an
excellent introduction to the ten-base system.
It should be noted that elementary mathematics textbooks refer to
the ordinal number and cardinal number when referring respectively to
a numbers sequential position or its quantity. We find the use of such
rarefied technical terms more of a hindrance to the understanding of
arithmetic than a help. Would it not be more appropriate to identify the
intended meaning of a number by referring to its positional sense or
quantity sense? This would make arithmetic more understandable for
both teacher and pupil. Positional sense need not be confused with place
value, which comes into the picture much later.
Step 4: After the child has learned to count to ten and knows the quantities each number stands for, you will want to teach him to count with
the symbols rather than units. You can start doing this by demonstrating
that each number symbol in sequence represents one unit more than the
preceding number. Thus he learns the following additions by one, which
you can write out on the blackboard, explaining the meaning of the plus
and equal signs. You can do the first two alone, then enlist the childs
assistance in figuring out the totals of the rest.

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Go over these until the child knows them in any order. Ask him:
What is 5 plus 1, 8 plus 1, 2 plus 1? etc. This will reinforce his understanding of the number quantities as well as the meaning of sequential
counting.
Step 5: You can show the child the same arithmetic facts learned in
Step 4 in another way so that he can appreciate the convenience of our
number symbols:

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Such a demonstration will convince the child how much time and
energy he can save by using the quantity symbols. Children are always
happy when they find shortcuts. Here you show him how to eliminate
unit counting by the use of number symbols, symbols that stand for
quantities.
Step 6: To further strengthen the childs ability to use the number symbols in calculation rather than to count units, teach the following additions by showing how units can be combined in number symbols more
than one, or, to put it in the reverse, how numbers are used to represent
more than one unit. You can demonstrate the process on the blackboard
by encircling the units represented by the numbers in the additions. Take
as much time as is needed to teach these additions. Explain each step
as you go. Note that the child is to be taught that 1 + 2 = 3 as well
as 2 +1 = 3, etc. Children do not automatically assume that because
1+2=3, that 2 + 1 = 3. They have to be shown it.

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Note how these unit-grouping exercises strengthen the childs understanding of the numbers and the quantity of units each number stands
for. He learns the proofs of these additions by being shown how the
units are combined into numbers. Now show the child how these addition facts can be arranged in a very useful addition table which the child
can utilize in memorizing the addition facts. Memorization is the only
way to automatic addition. If the child does not memorize the addition
totals, he will be unit counting indefinitely, and this will hinder or retard
his mastery of arithmetic.

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Step 7: The additions in the table can also be put into column form.
Write them out as follows so that the child can see the pattern:

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Have the child read off these additions aloud repeating one plus one
is two, two plus one is three, etc., until he reaches one plus nine is ten.
Repeating the additions in sequential patterns helps memory. Just as it
is easy to remember poems that rhyme, so it is easier to remember arithmetic facts when they are learned in progressive order. The child should
articulate these additions so that the sounds of the combinations become
familiar to him. You can also write out the same addition sequences on
the blackboard without the sums and see how well he adds them up. You
can later test him on how well he has learned these additions by giving
him random addition combinations by flash card. Some he will know
cold if they are easy, such as 5 plus 5 is ten. Others will be remembered
by their position in sequence or relationship to other combinations,
while yet others he will figure out by unit counting in his head or on his
fingers. The optimum goal is to get him to know 4 plus 5 as automatically as he knows 1 plus 1, so that there is no need to unit count. Unit
counting hinders speedy, effortless calculation, and some unit-counting
habits picked up in early instruction can persist throughout ones life,
constantly hindering easy calculation. If the child is permitted to rely
on unit counting, he will not make the effort needed to memorize the
addition facts.
Most modern textbooks give the child the kind of arithmetic problems
that encourage unit counting in addition, negating the unique advantag-

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es that our arithmetic system has as a tool for memory. The instruction
in this book excludes such teaching. Therefore, once the addition facts
of numbers 1 through 10 are proven by demonstrations of unit counting, no further unit counting should be permitted in adding quantities
over 1. The reason why we stress this is that the hardest habits to break
are those learned by children in the early grades where they establish
their ways of doing things. This goes for bad habits as well as good. It
makes no sense to let a bad habit become established in the hope that
it will eventually be replaced by a good one. Chances are that it wont.
Thus, care should be taken to make sure that the child establishes good
habits from the beginning. This can be done by being aware of the childs
thinking methods and how he performs the additions we give him.
We have devised the instruction in this book to make it as easy as possible to establish good habits from the start and difficult to establish bad
ones. However, no book of instruction is better than the teacher using it.
Thus, it is up to the teacher to put the books methodology into practice.
Step 8: By now the child will have spent about a year getting acquainted
with numbers and learning his first forty-five addition facts. If he cannot as yet count to 100, teach him to do so. If he learns this much easily,
proceed to teach him to count to 500 or 1000, depending on his ability.
Since the hundreds repeat all the decade counting already learned, they
will reinforce the childs counting ability from 1 through 100. In any
case, he should have little trouble learning to count to 100 since he can
easily discern the sequential pattern of 1 through 10 repeated in each line
of tens. At this point we are interested merely in getting the child to associate
the verbal number with its hieroglyphic counterpart.
Test his ability to name numbers from 1 to 100 by showing them to
him at random on flash cards. Practice with higher numbers if you have
taught him to count beyond 100.

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Step 9: Teach the rest of the additions with numbers to ten. Use the
addition groupings in Step 10 for drill purposes.

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Step 10: Drill the child on these additions in the same manner used in
Step 7.

Here are the same additions arranged in another pattern to facilitate

memorization:

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To test the childs mastery of the addition facts, give the child random
additions to perform. Note the ones that make him hesitate and note the
ones he can add automatically. Make a list of the ones he is unsure of
and drill him in them. Take plenty of time and be patient. Let him see
and hear the more difficult combinations over and over again with the
correct sums. In time they will become as easy to remember as 2 plus
2 is 4. Speed in response is important, because it permits us to detect
unit counting. Make such speed drills as enjoyable and as pleasant as
possible, telling the child that with sufficient practice hell be able to
perform perfectly. A good way to drill is to put addition combinations
on flash cards. Such drills should be conducted in short spurts rather
than in long tiresome sessions. But they should be repeated over a period
of time until performance is perfect. We can all count from 1 to 100 at
top speed without thinking because we have done it so often. Automatic
knowledge is acquired by going over the same thing often enough so that
a path in our minds is created. We acquire a great deal of automatic
knowledge without being aware that we are doing so. However, with a
system as complex yet compact and organized as arithmetic, such knowledge is best acquired through a systematic, deliberate approach. In the
long run it prevents poor arithmetic habits from developing and saves the
student time and effort all his life.
Step 11: Review counting and advance the childs counting capability
to 1,000. Again, the purpose of the instruction is to teach the child to
associate the verbal number with its proper hieroglyphic counterpart.
This is done by teaching the child to see and hear the basic pattern of 1
through 10 in each decade of the hundreds. The child learns to count by
remembering the recurring patterns in both verbal and symbolic numbers.
Step 12: Subtraction. Pose some simple subtraction problems to the
child so that he can understand what subtraction is. Explain to him
that while adding makes the quantity we started with more, subtraction
makes that quantity less. As an example, ask the child if he had ten pennies and spent six, how many he would have left. He can use his fingers
to see the subtraction process in concretes, or use pennies themselves. If
he takes away three from five, how many does he have left? When the

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child firmly grasps the concept of subtraction in terms of units and in

terms of a smaller quantity being taken away from a larger quantity, then
give him the following simple subtractions in number symbols, explaining the meaning of the minus sign:

Explain that in addition we count forward. In subtraction, we really

count backward.
Step 13: Teach the child to count backward from 20 to 1. Then demonstrate with the following how counting backward is really subtraction by
ones, as counting forward is addition by ones:

Have the child learn the following subtractions with their addition
counterparts. Show how subtraction can be checked by adding the difference (or remainder) to the subtractor (subtrahend):

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Through repeated recitations of these additions and subtractions, the

child will not fail to detect the consistent counting patterns in our arithmetic system. In being exposed to it, his mind is bound to capture some

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of its logic. In our introduction we stated that our goal was both to teach
arithmetic and have the child understand it. By detecting the consistency
of the patterns, he will begin to understand the logic behind the system.
The discovery of a logical consistency in a set of abstract symbols will be
an exciting discovery for the child. It is more important for him to learn
this than to solve unreal arithmetic problems which give him practice in
unit counting, much to his own detriment.
Step 13a : The symbol for zero. Ask the child to give the answers to the
following subtractions:

If he cannot give the correct answers, ask the child how much would
be left if you took one away from one, or five from five, or ten from ten.
If he answers nothing is left, tell him that he is correct and that we
use the zero, 0, to represent nothing. For example, when a baseball team
scores nothing, we put down zero as the score. Give the child some additions and subtractions with zero, such as:

Tell the pupil that if he has any trouble adding or subtracting with
zero to simply remember that zero stands for nothing, and that nothing
added to something does not increase the something, and that nothing
taken away or subtracted from something does not decrease the something. Thus, five plus nothing remains five, and five minus nothing remains five.
Step 14: Subtraction table. Show the child how to use the table in memorizing subtractions from 0 through 10.

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Step 15: The child may find it easier to memorize the following subtractions from sums up to 19 in this form. Show him how he can check his
subtractions by adding the remainder and the subtractor, which should
equal the sum subtracted from.

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Step 16: Drill subtractions with random combinations taken from the
subtraction tables.

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Step 17: Drill the fundamental addition and subtraction facts by mixing random combinations from both the addition and subtraction tables.
Step 18: Elementary addition involves more than simply learning the
fundamental addition facts. Further techniques are basic to development
of addition skills. These include column addition, higher decade additionwhich is needed in column additionand carrying. In teaching
column addition we start off with three single-digit numbers which add
up to not over 10. For example, we give the child 2, 3, and 4 to add in
a column. He first adds the 2 and 3, which gives him 5. Then he adds 5
and 4 to give him the final sum of 9. What is significant in this process
is that in adding 2 and 3 the child sees both numbers. But in adding 5
and 4, the 5 is not seen on paper but is held as an idea or image in his
head, to which he adds the 4. The process of adding a written number
to an invisible or mental number is a more difficult computational task
for the child to perform. So we start him off with very simple addition
columns, all of which add up to not more than 10. Lots of practice in
adding these columns will accustom the child to adding mental numbers
to written numbers.

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Step 19: The next series of column additions to be learned are those in
which the three one-digit numbers add up to sums over 10. In the additions below, the sum of the first two numbers in the column do not exceed 9. In learning to do these additions, make sure that the child always
adds from the top down. This is the direction in which the numbers are
written. It is the direction in which he should add them. Later on when
he is well habituated to downward adding and has learned to add onedigit numbers to two-digit numbers in what is known as higher decade
addition, you might introduce him to upward adding merely as a check
on the accuracy of his downward addition.

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Step 20: Higher decade addition. The purpose of this skill is to enable
the child to add one-digit numbers to two-digit numbers mentally. It is
a skill needed in order to become proficient in column addition. It is also
useful in multiplication carrying. Basically it is a counting skill made
automatic by much practice. Such exercises include the following kinds
of additions in which we demonstrate how the fundamental addition
facts relate to higher decade addition:

In all such higher decade additions, the reverses should also be practiced. That is, 87 plus 2 should also be practiced with 2 plus 87.
Step 21: Bridging in higher decade addition. What is important to note
in higher decade addition is that the principle of learning them is the
same applied to the basic addition facts. They are to be learned so that
the pupil need not unit count in his head. Obviously, the key to proficient higher decade addition is a flawless, automatic knowledge of the
basic addition facts. The skill of bridging, that is adding mentally from
one decade to the next, as in 28 + 7 = 35, is more difficult for the child to

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master, but it can be done if taught systematically. Since higher decade

addition should be learned as an automatic skill, an understanding of
place value at this point is not necessary. The two-digit numbers are be
ing used as single hieroglyphics designating specific quantities to which
are added one-digit numbers designating specific quantities. In other
words, the place value meaning of the two-digit number is irrelevant
in this sort of adding. The verbal number and the recurring verbal and
visual patterns in the higher decades are the keys to this kind of addition.
Place value only becomes a matter of importance when the child must
start carrying when performing computation with two or more twodigit numbers. When we look at, say, the number 24 as a simple hieroglyphic, we see it as simply representing twentyfour single units. If we
see it in terms of place value, we see it as 2 tens and 4 ones. It is easier
to understand the process of carrying when we see the number in terms
of place value. But in automatic counting, place value is only a help in
that it provides certain visual and verbal number patterns which serve as
effective aids to memory. But there is more to 24 than the fact that it is
made up of 2 tens and 4 ones. It is also made up of two dozen, six fours,
four sixes, three eights, eight threes. Thus, the place value meaning of 24
should be stressed when it is relevant to the arithmetic problem at hand.
Here are the addition exercises to teach bridging in higher decade
addition:

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After the pupil becomes familiar with these bridging patterns and sees
the relationship between 9 plus 8 and 79 plus 8, you can arrange these
additions in another pattern to aid memorization as in the following
sample:

All these bridging additions should be studied and practiced in the

context of the patterns so that the child forms in his mind the necessary
number pattern aids to memory. Then you can flash random bridging
additions on cards to see how well the pupil can perform them mentally.
If there is much hesitation or obvious unit counting, find out which
combinations cause the most trouble and practice them until the pupil
can add them without difficulty. Mastery will require much practice, but
mastery has its rewards. The child gains confidence in himself and in his
ability to learn and use arithmetic. Memorization is the easiest form of
learning, and arithmetic is basically a memorization system. The key aids
to the use of the fundamental addition facts in higher decade addition
are the recurring verbal and visual patterns. If more time is given to the

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more difficult combinations, they will be learned as thoroughly as the

easier ones.
After the pupil has had sufficient practice in higher decade addition
and bridging, give him sufficient column addition to put his skill to
work. The tutor can prepare column additions which start off easy and
get progressively more difficult, as in the following examples:
Higher decade combinations in the teens:

Higher decade combinations in the twenties:

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Higher decade combinations in the twenties with five numbers:

More addition columns can be prepared by the tutor for the practice
of higher decade additions, including some into the thirties.
Step 22: Place value. With the child now ready to start adding more
than one two-digit number, we can introduce him to place value in order to give him an understanding of how these additions are performed.
First point out how the number 10 was created by the addition of ten
ones. Demonstrate how the ones can be added in column form. Then
show how 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, and 100 are created by the additions of 10s in the same way:

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Explain that in a two-digit number, the digit on the right represents

the ones or units column, while the digit on the left represents the tens
column. Thus, the number 10 indicates that there are no ones and one
ten. The number 20 indicates no ones and two tens, and so on. The
number 12 indicates two ones and one ten. Give the child random twodigit numbers and see if he can identify how many ones and how many
tens each digit stands for. Thus, in our decimal place-value system, each
number of two digits tells us how many tens and ones it is made up of.
This information is a built-in feature of our numbering system.
Then explain how in a three-digit number like 100, the third digit to
the left stands for hundreds. Have the pupil read the following threedigit numbers and explain how many ones, tens, and hundreds each
number has:

To further demonstrate the place-value concept and how we add

numbers in place-value columns, show how the above three-digit numbers can be written out in the form of column additions as follows:

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Explain that in our arithmetic system we add each column starting at

the right and proceeding to the left.
Step 23: Give the pupil simple two- and three-digit combinations to
add in which no column adds up to more than nine, as in the following
sample:

Step 24: Carrying. If in adding combinations of two-digit numbers the

sum of the tens column is over nine, we put down the ones digit of the
sum in the ones column and carry to the tens column the tens digit.
Then we add up the tens column to get its sum. For example:

Give the pupil carrying exercises with the additions below. You can
devise as many as you need for practice purposes.

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In this next group, the sums are over 100:

Step 25: Adding three-digit numbers with no carrying. The columns

are added from right to left.

Step 26: Adding three-digit numbers with carrying in the tens column.
Explain each step.

Have the pupil practice with these additions and others you may devise:

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Step 27: Adding three-digit numbers with carrying in the hundreds

column. Explain each step:

Have the pupil practice with these additions below. Note that the sum
in the ones column is less than ten.

Step 28: Adding three-digit numbers with carrying in the tens and
hundreds columns. Explain each step:

Have the pupil practice with the following additions, to which can be
added more. Make sure that the pupil places the carried digit on top of

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the proper column and writes it as legibly but not as large as the other
digits in the numbers. The purpose of this is to distinguish the carried
numbers from the addends, that is, the numbers being added.

Step 29: Adding three-digit numbers with carrying in the tens and
hundreds columns adding up to sums over 999. Explain each step.

Explain that in a four-digit number, the fourth digit to the left is the
thousands column. Have the pupil practice with these additions:

Step 30: Subtraction with two-digit numbers in which borrowing is not

needed. Provide more practice with additional combinations if needed:

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Step 31: Subtraction terms.

minuend (the sum subtracted from)
subtractor (the amount subtracted)
remainder (whats left)

In some textbooks the subtractor is called the subtrahend and the remainder is referred to as the difference.
Step 32: Borrowing in subtraction. The method used in this instruction
is known by three different names: the take-away-carry method, the
method of equal additions, or the borrow-and-payback method. Its most
accurate description is as the method of equal additions. Thus, when the
ones digit in the minuend is lower than the ones digit in the subtractor, we add ten to the ones digit in the minuend and one to the tens
digit in the subtractor. Over the centuries this adding process has come
to be known as borrowing. The operation works as follows:
1. We start with this subtraction problem.

2. We borrow ten and add it to the 2 in the minuend. This makes it

12. We then subtract 6 from 12. We write the remainder of 6 under the
ones column.

3. But we must also add ten to the tens digit of the subtractor. We
do this by adding 1, remembering that the digits in the tens column
represent multiples of ten.

4. Now we subtract 3 from 7 leaving us 4. The answer to the subtraction problem is 46.

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5. To check our subtraction, we add the subtractor and the remainder,

which give us the minuend.

In expanded form, the equal adding or borrowing process can be

demonstrated as follows:

In teaching the technique of equal additions or borrowing, it is important to use terms which the child can understand so that he can easily
recall what must be done. For this reason many teachers have used the
terms borrow and pay back to describe the procedure. Children seem
to take to it (even though it is technically inaccurate) because it reminds
children that the borrowing process requires two actions: adding to the
ones digit in the minuend and to the tens digit in the subtrator. A
common error in subtraction is forgetting to add one to the tens digit
in the subtractor. Thus, when the teacher refers to the operation as bor-

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rowing and paying back the child remembers that it is a two-step

operation.
In this regard it is wise to get the child in the habit of performing
the borrowing and the paying back in automatic sequence so that
the second addition is not forgotten. Showing the child how the process
works in the expanded form will help him retain the equal adding principle in his mind. If the child can understand the idea of subtraction by
equal adding as demonstrated in the expanded form, you can refer to
the process as equal adding rather than borrowing and paying back.
In this instance, an intellectual understanding of the process may be
a much better way of helping the child master subtraction than rote
memory.
Step 33: Have the child practice the technique of equal adding in these
subtractions.

Step 34: Equal adding in subtractions in which the minuend is a threedigit number and the subtractor a two-digit number. Explain to the pupil that the zero in the hundreds column of the subtractor is invisible.

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Step 35: Subtractions with three-digit numbers without equal adding

or borrowing.

Step 36: Subtractions with three-digit numbers with equal adding or

borrowing in the ones, tens, and hundreds columns. The subtraction is performed in the following steps:

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Step 37: Subtraction exercises with three-digit numbers requiring equal

adding. Help the child where he may have difficulty subtracting with
zeros.

Step 38: Multiplication. Explain to the pupil that multiplication is a

short way of adding a lot of the same numbers. For example, in addition
we write:

In multiplication we write the same thing as:

We use the X to signify multiplication. Heres another example. In

addition we write:

In multiplication we write the same thing as:

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Explain that multiplication saves us a lot of time. It is a very useful

way of solving many simple problems. Supposing you had six boxes of
pencils in which there were six pencils to each box and you wanted to
know how many pencils you had altogether. You could add up six sixes
in this way:

Or you could multiply 6 6 to get the same answer. The multiplication

table gives us the answers to all multiplications with two numbers up to
12. The reason why we go as high as 12 is because 12 is a very common
number in our measurement systems. There are 12 months to a year, 12
in a dozen, 12 inches to a foot.
Step 39: The multiplication table. There are a number of ways of learning the multiplication facts. One way to do it is to learn to count by twos,
threes, fours, etc. Twos, fives, and tens are the easiest. Once they are
learned, start the child learning to count by threes, fours, sixes, sevens,
eights, and nines in conjunction with the learning of the multiplication facts. Save elevens and twelves until the pupil has fully mastered
the multiplications through nine. Elevens and twelves are not that often
used. Thus the child can learn to count by elevens to the ninth place
and twelves to the eighth place, which is more than he will ever need in
daily use. The multiplication table is an excellent guide to counting by
numbers 2 through 12:

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Step 40: The multiplication facts. The multiplication facts can be taught
in equation or column form. For the purpose of verbal memorization,
the equation is the better form in that it is easier to read rhetorically.
Therefore, in teaching the child to memorize the multiplication facts we
suggest using such sentences as two times two is four; two times three
is six. Some teachers prefer to say two twos are four or three sixes are
eighteen. This is perfectly good form except that it gives a more additive
connotation to the process. By using the word times the idea of multiplication as distinct from addition is conveyed. Actually, multiplication
is merely the memorization of multiple arithmetic facts or counting by
numbers over one. The tutor should bear this in mind when teaching a
child who is having difficulty grasping the concept of multiplication
which is really the concept of multiples, or specific quantities counted
forward in multiples. Division, on the other hand, deals with specific
quantities counted backward in multiples.

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The multiplication facts are memorized rhetorically in two ways, either in such sentences as two times two is four or in counting as two,
four, six, eight, etc. If both methods are used, the child will have his
mastery doubly reinforced. The key to addition is counting by ones. The
key to multiplication is counting by numbers over one. Here are the multiplication facts in equation form. Note that we place multiplication by
one at the end because some children have trouble understanding what
we mean by 1 1 = 1 before theyve grasped the concept of multiplication.
Note that multiplying by one is really another way of counting by
ones. Thus, when we say 1 1 = 1, etc., we are simply saying that one
one is one, one two is two, one three is three. However, the child must
know these multiplication-by-one facts because he will require them in
multiplying numbers with more than one digit. Note how the products
of multiples of three or six or nine give us the patterns of counting in
these multiples. The pupil should be encouraged to memorize these multiple counting patterns as they will be extremely useful in remembering
multiplication facts. Also note that any multiplication fact can be demonstrated by writing it out in addition formin a column or equation.
Thus,

or

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or

It can also be written out as a position in a counting sequence by

nines:

Step 41: Multiplication by zero. Since zero appears in many numbers

of two or more digits, the pupil will have to know how to multiply by
zero as follows:

You can demonstrate these equations by translating them into addition. Since zero means the absence of quantity, that is, nothing, point

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out that one nothing equals nothing and nine nothings still equal nothing. You can demonstrate this by writing out an equation of five zeros:

Point out that there are five zeros, but they all add up to zero. Point
out that 0 5 is another way of saying no five, or nothing. In other words
when you multiply anything by zero or multiply zeros you still get zero.
Step 42: Familiarize the pupil with the multiplication facts in column
form in anticipation of his performing written multiplication problems:

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Note how graphically we see that multiplication is really a form of

counting in multiples. Each line of products gives us the counting sequence of the multiplier, starting with one, which is our basic counting
sequence by one, the foundation on which the entire structure of arithmetic rests.
Step 43: Multiplication terms.
multiplicand
multiplier
product

Step 44: Multiplication without carrying. Teach the pupil to perform

these multiplications which give him practice in the multiplication facts.
Point out that the digits in the multiplicand are multiplied from right to
left in the same sequence that additions and subtractions are performed.
You can give the pupil these multiplications as soon as he has acquired
a preliminary mastery of the multiplication facts by verbal drilling and
flash cards.

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Step 45: Multiplication with carrying. Since carrying in multiplication

is similar to carrying in addition, the pupil should have little difficulty
in understanding or catching on to the process. The same place-value
principles apply. For example, in adding five fifteens, we do as follows:

In multiplying 15 5, we do as follows:

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Note that we add the carried 2 to the product of the 5 1 in the tens
column. Thus, the carrying process actually combines multiplication
with addition.
Step 46: Multiplication exercises with carrying. The more difficult multiplication facts are given greater emphasis toward the end.

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It is important to become aware of the pupils working habits as he

performs these multiplications. See which ones he performs easily and
those that give him trouble. At the heart of any difficulty will probably be a weakness in the more difficult multiplication or addition facts.
The remedy is to go back to the facts and drill them more thoroughly.
Children pick up poor arithmetic habits as a result of their trying to
overcome weaknesses in their knowledge of the basic facts when trying
to solve difficult problems. The problem of 44 2 is, in essence, actually no more difficult than 99 7. The difficulty of the latter lies in the
fact that we dont bother to put the same effort in learning to count by
nines that we do in learning to count by ones and twos. Thus, we may go
through life having trouble multiplying with nines because we were not
given enough drill with nines in the primary grades to give us the kind
of automatic knowledge which makes arithmetic as effortless as possible.
Therefore, we suggest that more time be spent on automatizing arithmetic knowledge than performing problems of no consequence. The problems should be given as tests of knowledge, not as means of reinforcing
bad arithmetic habits. Therefore it is much more important to find out
how a pupil performs his arithmetic problems than merely to check for
correct answers. If a correct answer is arrived at by way of tortuous unitcounting, it should alert us to the remedial work which should be done
at this stage of learning.
Step 47: Division. Just as multiplication is a form of counting forward
in multiples, division is basically counting backward in multiples. We

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start with a maximum quantity which we reduce by a divisor to a single

smaller multiple. For example, if you want to divide a box of 250 oranges among five people, you divide 250 by 5, giving each fifty. In other
words, the 250 has been divided into multiples of fifty. We apply a reverse knowledge of the multiplication facts to achieve the answer. We
know that 5 5 = 25. In reverse we know that 25 5 = 5. Therefore,
since our basic division facts are reverses of the multiplication facts, they
should be learned together. The pupils knowledge of his multiplication
facts will help him learn the division facts. To help the child understand
the practical uses of division, describe problems in which, for various
reasons, quantities are divided into multiples. For example, if three children were running a lemonade stand as equal partners and took in 90
cents that day, how would they determine how much each partner had
earned? They would use division to find out. When the child has grasped
the idea of division, have him learn the division facts.

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Step 48: Division terms. The most important fact in any division problem is the quantity or number you start withthe dividend, or that
which is to be divided. The Latin word dividere, from which we derive
our term division, means to separate, divide, distribute. In arithmetic it
means to separate into equal parts by a divisor. Thus, in division we start
with a quantity which is to be divided or distributed into equal parts or
multiples by a divisor. Since not all numbers or quantities can be divided
into equal parts, we may have a few units left over. For example, 252 oranges divided among 5 people gives us 50 oranges each with 2 left over.
In division we call the 50 the quotient and the 2 left over the remainder.
This is not to be confused with the remainder in subtraction, which is
also called the difference in order to avoid confusing it with the remainder in division.
Step 49: Division skills should be developed through sets of exercises
which become progressively more complex. We start with a review of the
primary division facts, proceeding into exercises with one-digit divisors
but two- and three-digit quotients without carrying.

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Step 50: Primary division facts with remainders. Explain to the pupil
that it is not always possible to divide a number evenly. Go back to the
lemonade stand example and ask how much would each partner have
gotten if they had earned only 29 cents instead of 90. We divide 29 by
3 to find out:
1.
2. To divide 29 by 3 we look for the number closest to 29, but not
higher than 29 that can be divided by 3or that 3 goes into. That
number is 27. Thirty obviously is too high. So we write 9 as the quotient,
multiply it by the divisor3. This gives us the dividend closest to 29
which can be evenly divided into three multiples. We write that dividend
under the original dividend of 29, thus:

3. Then we subtract 27 from 29, which gives us the remainder, or how
much extra is left over:

To check division we multiply the quotient by the divisor and add the
remainder. This gives us the dividend.

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What do the partners do with the extra 2 cents? Perhaps some candy
shop might sell them something which they can then divide into three
parts.
Here are a series of division exercises with remainders. Some children
will have difficulty finding the right divisible number into which the divisor can go. Let the child refer to the division table for help if necessary.
If he has learned to count by numbers over two, this knowledge will be
useful in finding the closest divisible number. Have the pupil write out
the full process and check each division answer.

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Step 51: Division with carrying, with and without remainders. The carrying process is performed by the process of bringing down as demonstrated in the examples below. An X is placed under the number brought
down to indicate the bringing down process.
1. Without a remainder

1. With a remainder

2. How many 3s go into 8?

Two.

2.

3. Bring down 4

4. How many 3s go into 24?

Eight.

3. Bring down 9

4. How many 3s go into 29?

Nine, with a remainder of 2.

The following exercises give practice in division facts with carrying,

but without remainders:

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The following exercises give practice in division with carrying and

remainders. Make sure that the pupil places each figure of the quotient
directly over the last figure of the partial dividend being used. A way for
the pupil to keep track of the dividend digits brought down is to place a
small x mark under the dividend digit as it is brought down.

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Step 52: Three-digit quotients. The following practice examples require

two carrying operations. Some come out even, but most have remainders. Make sure the pupil places the quotient figures in their proper position over the dividend and places a small x mark under each digit in the
dividend as it is brought down. This will help him keep track of each step
of the operation.

Step 53: Zeros in the quotient. Some children find it difficult to deal
with zeros in the quotient. The following exercises are designed to give
the child practice with handling zeros in the quotient. The rule to remember is that every time a digit in the dividend is brought down, a
figure must be written in the quotient.

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Note this fundamental principle: zero divided by any number equals

zero. Also, no number can be divided by zero for the simple reason that
something cannot be divided by nothing.
Step 54: Fractions. Children start understanding concepts of fractions
quite early, as words and expressions like a half and a quarter become
part of their vocabulary. But they also speak in terms of the bigger
half and the smaller half, which means that their understanding of
fractions as a precise arithmetic concept is still lacking. An arithmetic
fraction, in symbolic terms, represents one or more of the equal parts
of a whole. The tutor should find out how much the child does know
about fractions and then help the child to understand them in specific
arithmetic terms. Since operations with fractions are not taught until the
fourth grade, this primer will merely suggest a sequence of instruction
leading into operations with fractions. The purpose of the instruction
here is to find out how much the child already knows about fractions
and to expand on that.
Since decimals are merely another way of writing fractions in placevalue notation, you might teach some elementary facts about decimals,
particularly in relation to money. (See Step 61.) The pupil will no doubt
know by now that there are 100 cents in a dollar and that fifty cents are
a half dollar and twenty-five cents are a quarter.
First, it is necessary to make sure that the child grasps the concept
of a fractionthat is, a part of a whole or an aggregate. One pie can be
divided into two, three, four parts, etc. A dozen eggs can be divided into
a half dozen. One dollar can be divided into two halves, four quarters,
ten dimes, twenty nickels, one hundred cents. Since the use of money is
already in the childs experience, you might teach the fractions 1/2, 1/4,
and 1/10 in relation to money. Fractions such as 1/3, 1/8, 1/5, etc., can
be taught in relation to dividing up a whole pie into a number of pieces.
Fractions should also be taught in relation to line measurement: 1/2
inch, 1/4 inch, etc.; and in relation to weight: 1/2 pound, 1/4 pound; in
relation to liquid measurement: 1/2 gallon, 1/2 pint; and in relation to
time: half-hour, quarter-hour.

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The first step is to teach the child to read fractions. Start with:

Demonstrate these fractions on the blackboard by dividing a pie or

a candy bar into fractional parts. A fraction is one or more of the equal
parts of a whole. We call the number above or to the left of the stroke
the numerator and the number below or to the right of the stroke the
denominator. The denominator tells us how many parts the whole has
been divided into. It also tells us the comparative size of the partsif we
are dealing with wholes of similar size. The numerator tells us how many
parts have been taken. A unit fraction, such as those above, is a fraction
whose numerator is 1. The child should note from the above fractions
that the larger the demoninator, the smaller the fraction. The larger the
numerator, the larger the fraction. You can use blackboard drawings to
demonstrate this.
It is important for the child to understand the difference between the
numerator and the denominator and their relation to each other. This
can be done by demonstrating that the numerator and the denominator
of a fraction can be multiplied or divided by the same number without
changing the value of the fraction. For example, demonstrate how 1/2 is
the same as 2/4 or 5/10. But explain that we use fractions in their lowest
terms by reducing 2/4 and 5/10 to 1/2. You can demonstrate this on the
blackboard by dividing up a rectangle into two halves, four fourths, ten
tenths, and showing how one half is the equivalent of two fourths or five
tenths.
Step 55: Adding unit fractions. By teaching the child to add unit fractions we can acquaint him with other common fractions. We add fractions with the same denominators by adding the numerators only. For
example:

Notice how in adding 1/4 + 1/4 we reduced the 2/4 to its lowest terms,
1/2.

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Adding common fractions. Show how some of the above fractions can
be obtained as follows:

Also demonstrate the following deduced from the above, and see if
the pupil can figure out what must be done to add fractions with different denominators:

Comparing fractions. Have the child compare the size of unit fractions
by drawing circles on the blackboard divided into smaller and smaller
unit fractions. Then have the child compare the size of 1/2 to 2/3 to 3/4,
etc. These exercises will help the child learn that the larger the denominator the smaller the fraction and the larger the numerator the larger the
fraction if the denominator remains the same. These exercises also teach

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the child to understand that when the numerator and the denominator
are equal, the fraction always equals 1. For example:

Note that fractions in which the numerator exceeds the denominator

equal more than one. For example: 5/4 = 1 1/4; 8/7 = 1 1/7; 9/5 = 1 4/5.
A whole number (or integer) with a fraction is called a mixed number. A
fraction in which the numerator is less than the denominator is called a
proper fraction. A fraction in which the numerator is equal to or greater
than the denominator is called an improper fraction.
Changing the denominator of a fraction. Comparing fractions also
enables the child to discover the equivalence of fractions which have
different numerators and different denominators. The child learns how
common denominators are found for adding fractions with different denominators, and also how fractions are reduced to their lowest terms.
For example, you can show how 6 sixths can be written with different
fractions as follows:

Reducing fractions to their lowest terms. The important principle for the
pupil to learn is that the numerator and the denominator of a fraction
can be divided by the same number without changing the value of the
fraction. In preparing exercises, use those fractions which are obtained
as the result of adding or subtracting fractions. Fourths, sixths, eighths,
tenths, twelfths, sixteenths, twentieths, and twenty-fourths will occur
fairly often. Here are some practice examples to be reduced to their lowest terms:

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Here are additional practice examples of fractions to be reduced to

their lowest terms. These fractions are not as frequently encountered
as those in the first group. In reducing these fractions to lowest terms
the pupil can divide the numerator and denominator by two or more
numbers. However, to save time the pupil should learn to divide by the
largest number that he can see that will divide both the numerator and
denominator:

With the completion of the above instruction the pupil should be

ready to start learning to add, subtract, multiply and divide with fractions and mixed numbers. However, since these operations are beyond
the scope of the primary grades, the instruction on the pages which follow has been added basically for reference purposes.
Step 56: Adding fractions with different denominators. In order to add
fractions with different denominators, we must first make them have the

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same denominatoror a common denominator. To find the common

denominator, we multiply the two denominators with each other, and to
get the correct new numerators, we cross multiply the denominators with
the numerators. For example:

First we cross multiply 3 1 and 4 1 in order to get the correct

numerators. Then we multiply the two denominators 4 3 to get the
common denominator. Here are more examples:

Step 57: Subtracting fractions. In subtracting fractions we go through

the same process of finding the common denominator and the new numerators, and then we merely subtract numerators instead of adding
them:

The following fraction table reveals how the pattern of numerators

and denominators is directly related to our multiplication facts. Since
the greatest aids to memory in arithmetic are the number patterns, the
table is worth studying. It will reinforce the pupils understanding of the
advantages of memorizing counting by numbers over one and knowing
the basic multiplication facts cold.

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246

Step 58: Adding more than two fractions with different denominators.
1.
2. Add the first two fractions:

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3.

4.
Another example:
1.

2.

3.

Note that 34/105 is close enough to be considered 1/3.

4.

Step 59: Multiplying with fractions. In multiplying fractions, the numerators are multiplied with one another and the denominators are multiplied with one another. Note that we convert whole numbers into fractions to simplify the process:

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Step 60: Dividing by fractions. Dividing by a fraction is the same as

multiplying by the same fraction turned upside down. The upside down
fraction is known as the reciprocal. Study the following examples.

Checking above division:

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Step 61: Decimals. The simplest way to introduce the pupil to the concept of decimals (that is, fractions expressed in place-value notation) is
through an understanding of how we deal with money in decimals. A
decimal is a numerator of one or more digits with an unwritten denominator of ten or some power of ten depending on the position of the digit
or digits in relation to the decimal point. For example:

In other words, the digit columns to the right of the decimal point
represent 10ths, 100ths, 1000ths, etc., in the same order that the digit
columns to the left of the decimal point represent ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, etc. Thus, we can write 555 as:

and we can write .555 as:

In money notation, where the unwritten denominator is 100, the

decimal is only written out to two places. Note that .50 is the same as .5.
However, it is written as .50 because we refer to it as 50 cents as well as a
half-dollar, and also to avoid confusing it with .05. In general, our decimal money notations are read more as hieroglyphics than place-value
notations because of how they are referred to verbally and because of our
coin system. Thus:

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Demonstrate how decimals can be converted into decimal fractions,

then reduced to proper fractions:

Converting fractions to decimals. To convert or change a common

fraction to a decimal is a very simple and straightforward procedure. It
consists simply of dividing the numerator (with zeros annexed) by the
denominator and placing a decimal point before the proper figure of the
quotient. For example:

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Have the pupil read the following amounts:

Provide exercises in adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing

monetary sums. You can use a shopping list for additions, regular prices
vs. sale prices for subtractions, multiple buying for multiplication (if one
cost 3.98, how much will 3 cost?) and unit pricing for division (if the
price of the item is 3 for $1.00 or 5 for .88, how much will one cost?).
Teach the pupil to read large sums of money in round figures up to
one million:

Step 62: Linear measurement. Explain the following measurements:

Teach the child to read the following measurements:

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Teach the pupil to add, subtract, multiply, and divide feet and inches.
Note that in subtraction and division we can simplify computation by
converting feet into inches by multiplying feet by 12, subtracting or dividing in inches, then converting back into feet and inches for the final
answer.
Addition:

Subtraction:

Subtraction:

Multiplication:

Division:
Computing with fractions of inches can become complicated, es
pecially in division, where conversion to decimals is usually necessary.
If the pupil is up to it, show him how it is done with the following examples:

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Addition:

Subtraction

Subtraction:

Multiplication:

Division:

Step 63: Liquid measurement. Undoubtedly the pupil will be familiar

with our liquid measurement terms. However, he may not know how
many pints make a quart, etc. Devise problems in which pints are converted into quarts and quarts into gallons, etc.

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Step 64: Weight. As with liquid measurement, the pupil will be familiar
with weight measurement terms. However, teach him the relationship of
ounces to pounds and pounds to tons.

Step 65: Time. Find out how much the child knows about telling time.
Then explain our time system in an organized way. Start with the fact
that a day is divided into twenty-four hours, a day representing a full
rotation of the earth on its axis. A clocks face is divided into twelve
hours, which means that the hour hand circles the clock twice each day,
once for the morning hours, once for the afternoon and evening hours.
Explain that a.m. is the abbreviation of the Latin word ante-meridiem,
which means before noon, and that p.m. is the abbreviation of the Latin
word post-meridiem, meaning after noon. Noon, or the meridiem, is the
time of day when the sun is highest in the sky. Before noon the sun rises;
after noon it starts going down. Before clocks were invented sundials
were used to tell the time of day. The sundial is an instrument that indicates time by the position of the shadow of a pointer cast by the sun
on the face of a dial marked in hours. At noon, when the sun is directly
above, no shadow is cast to the right or left of the pointer.
The clock has two handsan hour hand (the short hand) and a minute hand (the longer hand). The hour hand circles the clock every twelve
hours, the minute hand circles it every sixty minutes or hour. Some

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clocks have a second-hand which sweeps around the clock each minute,
that is, every sixty seconds.
To tell the correct time we must note the position of the two hands.
When both hands are at the twelve position, it is either 12 noon or 12
midnight. The clock itself does not tell us whether it is a.m. or p.m. This
we determine by our own observation.
The hour hand, of course, tells us what hour it is. The minute hand
tells us how far into the hour we are. Since an hour is composed of sixty
minutes, when the minute hand is at the figure 3, it is a quarter past the
hour; at the figure 6, it is half past the hour; at position 9, it is threequarters past the hour, or one quarter before the next hour. In terms
of minutes, each position on the clock represents 5 minutes. Thus, the
figure 3, or one-quarter past the hour, represents 15 minutes. The figure
6 represents 30 minutes past the hour, and the figure 9 represents 15
minutes before the next hour.
Demonstrate clock positions to the pupil by drawing a clock-face on
the blackboard and drawing the hour and minute hands in a variety of
positions.
Give the pupil practice problems in telling time, and in converting
hours into minutes, minutes into seconds, minutes into fractions of
hours, and seconds into fractions of minutes. Devise problems in which
time must be calculated. For example, if we leave New York at 11 a.m.
and arrive in Boston at 3:25 p.m. how long does the trip take?
Explain the four different time zones in the United States: Eastern
Standard Time (E.S.T.), Central Standard Time (C.S.T.), Mountain
Standard Time (M.S.T.), and Pacific Standard Time (P.S.T.). Each time
zone is one hour earlier going from east to westbecause it takes the
sun one hour to travel 60 on the earths surface. Thus, if it is 4 p.m. in
New York City, it is 3 p.m. in Chicago, 2 p.m. in Denver, and 1 p.m. in
Los Angeles. Thus, if you are flying from New York to Chicago, leaving
New York at 3 p.m. E.S.T. and arriving at Chicago at 3:30 p.m. C.S.T.,
how long does the trip take? The correct answer is one and a half hours,
not a half hour.
Daylight-saving time is one hour ahead of standard time, generally
used in the summer to give an hour more of daylight at the end of the
usual working day. Unless the time is designated as daylight-saving time
(D.S.T.) it is standard time. Thus, when we enter daylight-saving time we
move the clock forward one hour. When we go off daylight-saving time,

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we move the clock back an hour. We move forward to daylight-saving,

back to standard.
After the pupil has mastered an understanding of our domestic time
zones, you can take up the time zones in the rest of the world. This can
be done by determining the time in the major cities of the world in relation to the time zone in which the pupil lives. Explain that the world is
divided into twenty-four standard time zones calculated east and west of
a line drawn through Greenwich, England, a borough of London. This
line is known as the Prime Meridian (first meridian). In other words, the
twenty-four time zones were determined on the basis of their relationship to noon at Greenwich. Naturally, when it is noon at Greenwich, it
is midnight on the other side of the globe. At midnight we pass from
one day to the next. On the other side of the globe, the prime meridian
becomes the 180th meridian.
For the sake of establishing a universal calendar, the nations of the
world agreed to accept a line drawn largely along the 180th meridian in
the middle of the Pacific as the International Date Line. Thus, although
it may be noon on the 180th meridian it will be 11 a.m. Sunday at the
next time zone west of the date line and 1 p.m. Saturday at the next
time zone east of the date line. Thus, you lose a day when you travel west
across the date line, but you gain a day when you travel east across it.
This may seem to be a strange phenomenon to those who never travel out
of their time zones. But the earth is constantly rotating, and while most
of us remain in the same place, we go from one day to the next in the
middle of the same night and think nothing of it. On New Years Eve, at
the stroke of midnight, we go from one year to the next. Nothing visible
has occurred, but what has occurred in terms of human understanding
is so great an event that celebrations take place to commemorate it. New
Years Eve is the best way to prove that mass hysteria can be induced by a
set of arbitrary numbers. The reason for this, of course, is that the passing of time has meaning and that the numbers we use to represent the
passage of time take on added significance. Thus, numbers like 1776,
1860, 1914, 1939, 1984 become incredibly powerful stimulators of the
mind, in that they conjure up events and cataclysms that have left their
mark on human history or will do so in the future.
Step 66: The Calendar. Undoubtedly the pupil will know the days of
the week and the months of the year. He will know the four seasons.

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He will probably know that there are seven days in a week and twelve
months in a year. But he may not know how many days or weeks there
are in a year.
When we ask how many days there are in a year, we are really asking how many times does the earth rotate on its axis as it completes a
full circle or revolution around the sun. The earth rotates 365 1/4 times
each year. But since we cannot have a calendar with a quarter-day, we
compute the calendar year as having 365 days, a quarter-day short of a
full year. Every four years (leap year) we add an extra day. This extra day
is tagged on at the end of February which regularly has 28 days but has
29 in leap years. So every four years we make our arithmetic adjustment
in our calendar. If you explain the basis of our calendar in this way,
the pupil will understand the meaning of leap year as an arithmetic ad
justment. He will also understand the difference between the year as a
calendar computation and the actual physical year of the earths movement around the sun.
To remember the number of days each month has, teach the pupil the
well known rhyme: Thirty days hath September, / April, June and November / All the rest have thirty-one / Except February alone, / Which
has four and twenty-four / Till leap year brings it one day more.
There are fifty-two weeks and one day in the year, with an extra day
in leap years. Ten years make a decade, a hundred years make a century.
The years in the 1900s are in the twentieth century. To explain this,
show how the years 1 through 100 were the first century, the years 101
through 200 were the second century, etc.
Our present calendar system starts with the birth of Christ, so that
the year 1 A.D. means 1 year after the birth of Christ, while 1 B.C.
means 1 year before the birth of Christ. Have the pupil compute such
problems as the number of years between 3500 B.C. and 2010.
The significance of the calendar is not only that we use it to give our
everyday lives a sense of order and continuity, but also to keep track
of our history which is crowded with events and people. The calendar
reveals a great deal about mans basic nature, his need to fit the order
of his life to the order of the physical universe, his need to devise tools
with which to aid memory and keep records, his need to live a regulated,
nonchaotic existence in which he can plan the future.
The calendar also represents a considerable human achievement in
terms of solar-system observance. It was the first practical result of mans
astronomical studies in which he could relate the seasonal changes on

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earth to the changes taking place in the heavens. In those days it was
assumed that the earth was stationary but that everything in the heavens
moved around it. By recording all these movements and observing their
regular recurrence man was able to predict certain future conditions and
plan accordingly. The calendar became the primary tool for planning. It
is one of the best tools man has ever devised to help him control his environment and plan ahead. It should be noted that all astrological forecasting is based on the calendar in relation to the movements of heavenly bodies. While man has devised more scientific and accurate ways
of forecasting the future, astrology remains a popular way to predict the
unpredictable.
Teach the child to read dates and to make his own calendar. Everyones birthday is an important calendar date. Have the pupil relate his
own birthday to important world events. Also devise problems using
dates; for example, computing the 250th anniversary of the signing of
the Declaration of Independence or the age of George Washington if he
were alive today. Teach him to make a chronological chart of events, to
chart his own program of activities for the coming year. This will show
the child how to use the calendar in planning ahead.
In teaching the four seasons, explain the phenomenon of the equinox, that is, the two days each year in which both day and night are of
equal length. They occur on the first day of autumn and the first day of
spring when the suns rays are vertical to the earth. The first is called the
autumnal equinox and occurs about September 23, the second is called
the vernal equinox and occurs about March 21. You can use this lesson
on the calendar as a means of stimulating the pupils interest in the solar
system and how mathematics is used to understand the relationship of
one heavenly body to another.
Step 67: Intermediary Arithmetic. We have covered all of the arithmetic skills a child is expected to learn in the primary and elementary
grades. Some children, obviously, will learn faster than others. The slower children will require explanations in the simplest, most elementary
form and will need to have these explanations frequently repeated, with
variations in the approach and in the nature of the illustrative examples.
The brighter pupils will see reasons, grasp concepts, and understand processes more quickly. But once the child has firmly mastered the material
in this course of instruction he can move on to arithmetic on the in

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termediary levels. What follows is an outline on how to expand the skills

already learned.
Addition: The pupil should learn to add longer columns of numbers
with a variety of digits, making sure that the right digit is added in the
right column. He should perfect his skill in carrying, regardless of how
many digits there are in the numbers added.
Subtraction: Here the child should develop his equal adding or borrowing skill in subtractions with numbers of three, four, five, six or more
digits.
Multiplication: The pupil should be taught to multiply with both larger multiplicands and larger multipliers. The first step is to teach him to
multiply two-digit multiplicands with two-digit multipliers, as in the
following example, without carrying:

a.
b. Multiply the multiplicand with the ones digit of the multiplier.

c. Multiply the multiplicand with the tens digit of the multiplier,

placing the first written digitthe ones digitof the partial product
directly under the tens digit of the multiplier. The reason why we must
indent the partial product so that it falls directly under the tens digit
in the multiplier is because we are actually multiplying the multiplicand
by 20 not 2, since the 2 in the tens column represents multiples of
ten in our place-value system. However, we accomplish the same thing
more simply by multiplying the multiplicand by 2, not 20, and indenting the partial product so that it falls directly under the tens digit of
the multiplier.

d. Add the two partial products for the final product.

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How to Tutor

The next example requires carrying.

a.
b. Multiply the multiplicand with the ones digit of the multiplier.

c. Multiply the multiplicand with the tens digit of the multiplier,

indenting the partial product as shown in the previous example. Write
the carried digit above the previously carried digit distinctly enough to
avoid confusing them.

d. Add the two partial products to get the final product.

In the next step we multiply three-digit multiplicands with two-digit

multipliers, first without carrying, then with carrying:

Arithmetic

261

In the next step we multiply three-digit multiplicands with three-digit

multipliers, first without carrying, to demonstrate the process more simply, then with carrying. Note the indention of the tens and hundreds
partial products consistent with place-value notation. You can demonstrate the validity of this method by multiplying 231 by 3, 20, and 100
and adding the three products together.

When carrying is required in multiplying with each digit of the multiplier, be sure to have the pupil write the carries clearly and separately
in their own lines to avoid confusion.

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262

In the next steps, we multiply four-, five-, and six-digit multiplicands

by three-, four-, and five-digit multipliers
Multipliers ending with zeros. When the multiplier is 10, 100, 1,000,
etc., the product is obtained by adding the number of zeros in the multiplier to the multiplicand. For example:

Other examples of multipliers ending with zeros:

a.

or

b.

or

c.

or

d.

or

Checking multiplication. Multiplication can be checked by in

terchanging the multiplicand and multiplier and comparing products,
which should be identical.
Division: Developing the ability to divide with two or more digit divisors requires developing considerable numerical judgment. This judgment consists of the ability to mentally estimate how many times a divi-

Arithmetic

263

sor can go into a dividend and the successive digits in the quotient. Such
numerical judgment can only be developed with a great deal of practice.
Such practice will enable a pupil to see, for example, that 22 goes into 90
four times with a remainder of 2. If the divisor is 27 and the dividend 96,
the pupil will estimate the quotient by thinking of 30 into 90. His final
answer will be a quotient of 3 with a remainder of 15. Here is how these
problems appear on paper:

In developing the ability to divide with larger divisors, first give the
pupil exercises with two-digit divisors and two-digit dividends, then
two-digit divisors with three-, four-, five-, and six-digit dividends.
Next, advance to three-digit divisors with three-, four-, five-, six-, and
seven-digit dividends. From there, provide exercises with four-digit divisors and appropriate dividends. Once the pupil has mastered the skills
learned in solving these problems, he should have no trouble dividing
any size dividend with any size divisor.
Examples:
Two-digit divisor with a three-digit dividend.
a.
b.

c. Bring down 9. Estimate 58 into 269 as 50 into 250.

d. 5 is too large. Try 4.

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264

e. Final answer is quotient of 14 with remainder of 37.

Note how numerical judgment only provides us with an estimate. The
final correct answer is arrived at by trying different numbers. It is like
trying on different sizes of shoes to see which one will fit.
Provide sufficient exercises to help the pupil develop numerical judgment.
Two-digit divisor with a four-digit dividend:
a.
b.

c. Bring down 5. 39 goes into 95 twice.

d. Bring down 4. 39 goes into 174 five times?

e. Five is too large. Try 4.

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265

Two-digit divisor with a four-digit dividend in which the divisor is

larger than the first two digits of the dividend:
a.
b. Since 86 goes into 63 less than one time, we must divide 638 by
86. Our numerical judgment suggests that we try 7.

c. Bring down 7. 86 goes into 367 four times?

d. Correct answer: quotient of 74, remainder 23.

Two-digit divisor with five-digit dividend:
a.
b.

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How to Tutor

c.

d.

Two-digit divisor with a six-digit dividend:

a.
b.

c.

d.

Arithmetic

e.

Three-digit divisor with a four-digit dividend:

a.
b.

c.

Three-digit divisor with a five-digit dividend:

a.
b.

c.

267

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268

Three-digit divisor with a six-digit dividend:

a.
b.

c.

d.

Three-digit divisor with a seven-digit dividend:

a.
b.

c.

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269

d.

e.

f. Three is too large. Try 2.

Notice all the skills required to perform long division: division, multiplication, higher decade additions with the multiplication carries, and
subtraction with equal adding or borrowing. Long division, in fact
gives the pupil lots of practice in most of the arithmetic skills he has
learned. However, it is essential to see where the pupil is strongest and
weakest in his use of these skills. In this way his weak points can be
strengthened by remedial drills and exercises.

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How to Tutor

SEQUENCE OF INSTRUCTION
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5
Step 6
Step 7
Step 8
Step 9
Step 10
Step 11
Step 12
Step 13
Step 13a
Step 14
Step 15
Step 16
Step 17
Step 18
Step 19
Step 20
Step 21
Step 22
Step 23
Step 24
Step 25
Step 26
Step 27
Step 28
Step 29
Step 30
Step 31
Step 32
Step 33

Introducing arithmetic ideas

Learning to count 110
The meaning of the numbers
Counting with symbols rather than units
The convenience of number symbols
How units are combined into number symbols
Addition facts
Counting to 100
Additions with numbers to 10
Addition table
Counting to 1,000
Subtraction
Subtraction facts
Symbol for zero
Subtraction table
Subtractions in column form
Subtraction drill
Addition and subtraction drill
Column addition
Column addition with sums over 10
Higher decade addition
Bridging in higher decade addition
Place value
Adding two- and three-digit numbers
Carrying in addition
Adding three-digit numbers with no carrying
Adding three-digit numbers with carrying in the tens
column
Adding three-digit numbers with carrying in the hundreds
column
Carrying in the tens and hundreds columns
Carrying in the tens and hundreds columns with sums over
999
Subtraction with two-digit numbers
Subtraction terms
Borrowing or equal adding in subtraction
Technique of equal adding in subtraction

Step 34
Step 35
Step 36
Step 37
Step 38
Step 39
Step 40
Step 41
Step 42
Step 43
Step 44
Step 45
Step 46
Step 47
Step 48
Step 49
Step 50
Step 51
Step 52
Step 53
Step 54
Step 55
Step 56
Step 57
Step 58
Step 59
Step 60
Step 61
Step 62
Step 63
Step 64
Step 65
Step 66
Step 67

Arithmetic

Equal adding
Subtractions with three-digit numbers
Equal adding in the ones, tens, and hundreds columns
Subtraction exercises
Multiplication
Multiplication table
Multiplication facts
Multiplication by zero
Drill in multiplication facts
Multiplication terms
Multiplication without carrying
Multiplication with carrying
Multiplication exercises with carrying
Division
Division terms
Division exercises
Remainders
Division with carrying
Division with three-digit quotients
Zeros in the quotient
Fractions
Adding unit fractions
Adding fractions with different denominators
Subtracting fractions
Adding more than two fractions with different
denominators
Multiplying with fractions
Dividing by fractions
Decimals and money
Linear measurement
Liquid measurement
Weight
Time
The calendar
Intermediary arithmetic: Addition, Subtraction,
Multiplication, Division

271

about the

author
Samuel L. Blumenfeld is a native New Yorker who now makes his
home in South Boston. He was educated in the public schools of New
York City and at City College of New York. Before turning to full-time
writing, Blumenfeld was a book and magazine editor. To give himself
frontline experience for his books on education, he served as a substitute
teacher in the Quincy, Massachusetts, public schools. He is chairman of
the Massachusetts branch of the Reading Reform Foundation.
Blumenfelds articles have appeared in the New York Times, New York
Herald Tribune, Commentary, American Opinion, Ideas, Esquire, Reason,
Inquiry, American Education, Vital Speeches, Education Digest, American
Legion Magazine, Conservative Digest and Boston Magazine.
Blumenfeld has authored seven books, six on the subject of education.
He was an honorary Doctor of Laws from Bob Jones University in May
1986.