Much time is spent instilling in young students the importance of reading, and the impact reading has on their being considered “smart.” The activities presented to students in primary (Pre –Kindergarten/Kindergarten) classrooms through third grade are engaging and cooperative, and they provide a sense of accomplishment for students who meet learning goals. However, by third grade, and thereafter, students begin to lose their sense of pride and interest in reading; therefore, their performance in reading (and school in general) begins to plummet and a gap continues to widen between reading interest and achievement going into the middle grades. In the late 1960’s, Jeanne Chall labeled this decline in achievement and reading interest as “the fourth-grade slump”.Read More