Anne,

Q.  I'm really not in a position to buy more books at
this time.  Could I use the reading lists in the
back of TWRTR instead of the McCall Readers?

A.   A child can benefit by practicing reading with anything of
interest, but I know of absolutely no book that can replace the work of
the McCall Test Lessons.    Maybe next year you can get these.   These
high interest stories grab the attention of any age.  While the entire
five volume series can be completed by good readers by sixth grade, the
selections are equally interesting to high schoolers or even adults.   
Some of the later lessons can register up to post college level reading
mastery.  It is never too late to start using these.

What is so special about the McCall books?   The first step in reading
comprehension is for a child to be able to see and recognize  words in
print.   Obviously comprehension is hindered if a child sees the word
"horse" and reads it as "house."    Once a child can accurately see and
identify the words, then he is free to dig for the intent of what the
author has written.   That involves more than just recognizing the
words in print.   First a child needs to "learn to read."  Next the
child should learn how to "read to learn."   There are a variety of
sub-skills that a student develops for what we call higher level
comprehension (reading to learn).   The McCall books in an almost
effortless way help train the students to master these sub-skills which
include such things as detecting the sequence, making inferences,
getting the facts, and getting the main idea.   The student is given
three minutes to read silently a short selection and answer
multiple-choice questions.   The questions are chosen to represent the
various subskills.   There is always a question or two that just check
to see if the child can identify the more obvious.

For example one lesson gives instructions for making a kite which
begins:

"Would you like to learn how to make a kite?  A diamond-shaped kite is
very easy to make.  You must have two pieces of very light wood about
as thick as your lead pencil......"

A number of the questions  are just getting the facts

Q.  The number of pieces of wood you need is (a) one  (b) two  (c)
three  (d) four

Q.  This story tells how to make part of a (a) kite (b) boat (c) box
(d) book

At least one question checks the ability to make inferences.

The text reads, "Join the four ends of the cross with a long string
using the notches to keep it from slipping."

Q.  The notches are to (a) hold the string (b) hold the paper (c) look
pretty (d)  hold the tail.

The words of the text are that the notches will keep the string from
slipping.  The question has the same idea written in different words.  
The student will show that he realizes that "keeping from slipping" is
another way to say "hold the string."

At least one question says, "Choose the correct sequence" and then
gives four options.

Another question says, "Choose the best title."   This is a way of
determining if the student can identify the main idea.   This type of
question will have a number of choices that could be true but the
student must find the one that is the most precise.

Different types of writing are used in the book. The above example is
"how to do"  instructions.   Other selections include biography,
narrative, letters, poems, adventure, mystery, etc.  Topics come from
history, science, travel, geography, human interest, etc.  Students
enjoy the variety of interesting selections.  Best of all, the book
accomplishes what it sets out to do.  Children improve their
comprehension.  It is not uncommon to see big jumps in reading
comprehension skills on state testing such as SAT or IOWA Basic Skills
as a result of students working consistently with the McCall books.

When I teach I assign at least three of these selections a week.   Our
hard cover book will last for a number of years.  The student would
silently read one selection and then answers as many questions as he
can in the time allotted.  Then I would grade his paper using the
answer key.  I would return the student his paper and have him see if
he could correct on his own any of the answers that he got wrong.   
Most of the time he could do this without help.  Sometimes we would
need to discuss why one answer was better than another.

Can you tell I love these books?

Blessings,

Wanda Sanseri