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Show School Tn and V- j Horn & J by Dr. Daryl J. McCarty ' Executive Secretary 1 Utah Education Association How many times have you heard one of the children moan about not being able to find Aunt Sally's name in the phone book? OR: "WHERE can I find how to spell rhinoceros? Or: "I haven't found 'Ecuador' in the encyclopedia yet." SUCH STATEMENTS are common in our homes, and there's something we can do about them. A long time ago someone decided that words, names and places would be easier to find in books if they were alphabetized. SO MOST of us adults have learned to look at the first letter of a word and match it with the alphabetical listing in a telephone book, dictionary, dic-tionary, encyclopedia or city directory. Many younger people may not have mastered the knack of using alphabetized lists. There's a simple way of finding find-ing out whether your son or daughter is good at it. Ask Susan or Dave to look up a topic in the encyclopedia. ANY DIFFICULTY? If so, try this: Prepare a pile of paper slips. Write a word on each slip, making sure many of the words begin with the same letter-and letter-and some with the same second letter. NOW, HAND the word-slips to your child with instructions to put the words in alphabetical alphabe-tical order. When that excerise is complete, give the youngster a list of names to look up in the telephone book. Be sure to provide a list that has several last names that are the same, but have different first names. FINALLY, RECITE a list of subjects for Susan to find in the dictionary. Remind Dave that he doesn't have to read every word on each page, and that "guide words" at the top of each page are helpful. IT MAY seem like a simple skill, but the ability to decode lists of alphabetized material is basic to a lot of necessary things we must do. |