Beginning Reasoning & Reading

Critical reading and reasoning activities for younger students are practiced in this popular series from EPS. Each book contains four basic divisions: Word Meaning, Sentence Meaning, Paragraph Meaning, and Reasoning Skills. These are meant to build comprehension and critical reading abilities "from the ground up". Word Meaning contains exercises to increase awareness and understanding of words. Specific activities focus on word definition, classification, and the relationships between words. In the next section, the basic element for study is the sentence. Varied exercises help students see how different combinations of words affect meaning, how words in sentences are related, and how the meaning of a sentence can be affected by the meaning of even "small" words. In Paragraph Meaning, students take on a larger "chunk" of information for dissection. Activities discuss and develop understanding of unity in a paragraph, help students discern types of paragraphs and determine the main idea and supporting details within the paragraph. The last unit contains practice with critical (judicial) reading skills such as discerning fact/opinion, determining relevance, making inferences and comparisons, practicing syllogisms, and drawing conclusions. Level 1 is written at a sixth- to seventh-grade reading/vocabulary level for use with capable fifth-graders and beyond. The Level 2 book uses eighth- to ninth-grade vocabulary for use with capable seventh-graders and beyond. It is not necessary to use one level before using the next, but you can use them in succession if you wish. Student worktexts are consumable. Teacher's Guides contain reduced student pages with suggested answers.