Two combined second and third grade classrooms were observed throughout the five weeks of a summer school program to determine what "reading instruction" was in the contextual reality of classroom life. Observers viewed approximately 20 hours of reading instruction per week. In addition, they interviewed the classroom teachers informally as the study unfolded and formally at the conclusion of the observation period. Other data analyzed included classroom maps, samples of instructional materials, lesson plans, student work, and informal interviews with principals and other teachers. The findings revealed that reading instruction in the summer school classrooms was materials centered, and that implementing the reading series provided was the driving force behind instructional activity in both classrooms. Instruction was skill-based, product-oriented, reactive, and disconnected. Reading lessons and the instructional behavior of teachers were profoundly influenced by the basal materials. Teaching behaviors that dominated instructional assistance, direct instruction, and attempts to do more than assign practice activities and check them were conspicuous in their absence. (FL)