Why Your Child Should Read for 20 minutes Every Day

                               LET'S FIGURE IT OUT --- MATHEMATICALLY!

                     Student A reads 20 minutes five nights of every week;
                     Student B reads only 4 minutes a night...or not at all!

                  1st: 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

                      2nd: Multiply minutes a week x 4 weeks each month.
                                    Student A reads 400 minutes a month.
                                    Student B reads 80 minutes a month.

                     3rd: Multiply minutes a month x 9 months/school year
                                    Student A reads 3600 min. in a school year.
                                    Student B reads 720 min. 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 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?

Think about it

Which student would you expect to...

 read better?

know more?

write better?

have a better vocabulary?

be more successful in school....and in life?
Guess you now understand why reading daily is so very important.  Why not have family night reading?  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.)