Please check your child’s planner every day.  He/she will be expected to read a  minimum of 20 minutes per night.  There will occasionally be additional homework assignments, but THE MOST IMPORTANT habit your child can develop for academic success is to set aside a consistent time for independent reading every day.  They should have a book on their level from our Media Center at all times.  Once they have finished reading it, they will be expected to take the AR quiz before checking out another book.  If your child is absent, please call the school or email me, so I can prepare their make-up assignments.

When he/she asks, “Why can’t I skip my 20 minutes of reading tonight?”, please consider the following –

Student A reads 20 minutes, five nights of every week;

Student B reads only 4 minutes a night…or not at all!

Step 1:  Multiply minutes a night X 5 times each week.

Student A reads 20 min. X 5 times a week = 100 minutes minutes a week;

Student B reads 4 min. X 5 times a week = 20 minutes.

Step 2:  Multiply minutes a week X 4 times 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.

Student A reads 3,600 minutes in a school year;

Student B reads 720 min. in a school year.

Student A practices reading the equivalent of 10 whole school days a year.

Student B gets the equivalent of only 2 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, while 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?