This paper describes lessons in beginning reading, developed by the PLATO Elementary Reading Curriculum Project (PERC), for use with first graders. The lessons were developed to reflect a number of specific principles, including: (1) all responses should be meaningful; (2) remedial feedback should be kept to a minimum; (3) students must always be forced to make the correct response; and (4) students should be able to pace their own instruction. Specific lessons from the PERC series are used to illustrate these principles and to demonstrate the unique uses of a computer for teaching reading. These uses turn the computer into a "reading machine," letting the first graders feel that they are in control of their computer terminal, rather than controlled by it. (AA)