• Why Your Child Should Read for 20 minutes Every Day...                


    Student A reads 20 minutes five nights of every week;  

    Step 1: Multiply minutes a night x 5 times each week.
    Student A reads 20 min. x 5 times a week = 100 mins./week                                 
    Student B reads 4 minutes x 5 times a week = 20 minutes                                  
    Step 2: Multiply minutes a week x 4 weeks each month.
    Student A reads 400 minutes a month.                                 
    Student B reads 80 minutes a month.                                  
    Step 3: Multiply minutes a month x 9 months/school year
    Student A reads 3600 minutes in a school year.                                 
    Student B reads 720 minutes in a school year.
    Student A practices reading the equivalent of ten whole school days a year.
    Student B gets the equivalent of only two school days of reading practice.

      By the end of 6th grade, if Student A and Student B maintain these same reading habits, Student A will have read the equivalent of 60 whole school days and Student B will have read the equivalent of only 12 school days. One would expect the gap of information retained will have widened considerably and so, undoubtedly, will school performance.  How do you think Student B will feel about him/herself as a student?


    Some questions to ponder:  

    Which student would you expect to read better?

     Which student would you expect to know more?

     Which student would you expect to write better?

     Which student would you expect to have a better vocabulary?

     Which student would you expect to be more successful in school....and in life?



    Why Read 30 Minutes a Day?  
      *Reduce that experience to just 30 minutes a week, and the child's hungry mind loses 770 hours of nursery rhymes, fairy tales, and stories.  
    *A kindergarten student who has not been read aloud to could enter school with less than 60 hours of literacy nutrition. No teacher, no matter how talented, can make up for those lost hours of mental nourishment.  
    30 minutes daily = 900 hours 
    30 minutes weekly = 130 hours 
    Less than 30 minutes weekly = 60 hours  

    Guess you now understand why reading daily is so very important.   

    Why not have family night reading?   
    It is great to just turn off the television for 20-30 minutes and  read... and share.


    Source:  U.S. Dept. of Education, America Reads Challenge.  (1999) "Start Early, Finish Strong: How to Help Every Child Become a Reader."  Washington, D.C.