Dear Readers
It is almost time for the long hot days of summer!
I still remember the chants we would say on the last day of school:
No more homework, No more books
No more homework, No more books
Had I known what I know now about the importance of reading and its benefits this would be my chant:
Give more homework, Give more books
Read, Read, Read!
Food for Thought
If a parent reads to a child while he/she is an infant, at the age of five (5) years old, he/she has been fed roughly 900 hours of brain food.
If the parent reads to a child while he/she is an infant for 30 minutes a week then the child will lose 770 hours of nursery rhymes, fairy tales and other 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.
*Therefore...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 shut 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.
