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Archiver > GEN-EDITOR > 1997-11 > 0878877586


From: Elizabeth Whitaker <>
Subject: Re: Junior Newsletter
Date: Thu, 06 Nov 1997 23:39:46 -0500 (EST)


At 07:07 PM 11/3/97 -0500, Pat wrote:
>After I read tht someone was starting a Fuller Newsletter, I really became
>interested, because I and my husband by ourselves have 14 grandchildren. and
>there are a lot more children whose parents subscribe to our newsletter, and
>belong to our family association.
>
>I did some brainstorming for the Fuller, someone do some for me, and let me
>know what you are using. Our children covered in this newsletter will be
>from the ages of 8 to 15. Figure anyone older than that can read the regular
>newsletter. Considered taking it down to 13. Suggestions would be
>appreciated. and how many pages are you allowing for this newsletter.

If you use MSWord 6 and do a grammar check after completing a document
(such as a newsletter), a box comes up that gives three different types of
reading levels. I don't know the difference between the three systems, but
two of them are calibrated in grade levels, so I can get an approximation
of a document's reading level. (For example, if I get an average of over
a 10th or 11th grade reading level, I'll go back through and simplify the
language, depending on my intended audience.)

I don't know if later versions of Word have this feature. I assume
WordPerfect *might* have something like this.

You also might want to check a few currently-used textbooks to get an
idea of what type of material kids are expected to read in school. (It may
be quite a shock! I substituted a couple of weeks ago mainly in eighth
grade classes, and the textbooks for them had the kind of reading level
I'd had in fourth grade (thirty years ago!) , in another state in the national
bottom five.)

Elizabeth Whitaker

computer columnist, THE BETHUNE PAW PRINT
http://Web.InfoAve.Net/~elwhitake

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