Why Your Child Should Read 15 Minutes Every Day
“WHY CAN’T I SKIP MY 15 MINUTES OF READING TONIGHT?”
LET’S FIGURE IT OUT…MATHEMATICALLY!
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Student A |
Student B |
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Student A reads 15 minutes 4 nights of every week;
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Student B reads only 5 minutes 4 nights…or not at all. |
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Step 1: Multiply minutes a night x 4 times each WEEK.
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Student A reads 15 minutes x 4 times a week = 60 minutes/WEEK.
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Student B reads 5 minutes x 4 times a week = 20 minutes/WEEK.
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Step 2: Multiply minutes a week x 4 weeks each MONTH.
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Student A reads 240 minutes a MONTH.
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Student B reads 80 minutes a MONTH.
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Step 3: Multiply minutes a month x 9 months/SCHOOL YEAR.
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Student A reads 2160 minutes in a SCHOOL YEAR.
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Student B reads 720 minutes in a SCHOOL YEAR.
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So what does this mean??? |
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Student A practices reading the equivalent of 6 whole school days a year.
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Student B gets the equivalent of only 2 school days of reading practice.
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By the end of 6th grade if Student A and Student B maintain these same reading habits, then… |
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Student A will have read the equivalent of 36 whole school days. |
Student B will have read the equivalent of only 12 school days.
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WHY READ 30 MINUTES A DAY?
*If daily reading begins in infancy, by the time the child is 5 years old, he or she has been fed roughly 900 hours of brain food!
*Reduce that experience to just 30 minutes a week, and the child’s hungry mind loses 770 hours of nursery rhymes, fairy tales, stories, and vocabulary development.
*A kindergarten student who has not been read aloud to could enter school with less than 60 hours of literacy nutrition.
Source: U.S. Department of Education, America Reads Challenge. (1999) “Start Early, Finish Strong: How to Help Every Child Become a Reader.” Washington, D.C.