ABSTRACT
At this age children are expected to deal with increasingly complex materials both as readers and as writers. More of their learning, in all parts of the curriculum, is from secondary sources. They have to grapple with books, computer software and CD-ROMs and the Internet, newspapers and journals, instructions and diagrams of many kinds. This should both increase their knowledge of the world and help them grow intellectually-to become able to define and understand a task and to find ways of dealing with it. So, while the work done in these years will be worthwhile in itself, it will also prepare children for the challenges of the secondary years.
