Why Twenty Minutes of Reading Nightly?

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!

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

Student A reads 20 minutes x 5 times a week = 100 minutes/week

Student B reads 4 minutes x 5 times a week= 20 minutes per week

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.  The reading equivalent of ten whole school days a year.

Student B reads 720 minutes a school year.  Student B gets the equivalent of only two school days of reading practice.

We learn to read by reading, one of the major differences between good and poor readers is the amount of time they read.  Reading is an acquired skill, the more you do it, the better you get.  People are pleasure oriented.  You only do again and again what you like.  If a child finds more pleasure than pain in reading, they will do it.  Build as many pleasure bridges as possible.  Provides books your child likes and can read easily.

The single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to your child. You are role modeling and children value what we value.

Listening comprehension comes before reading comprehension.  A child, who has never seen a parent read for fun, will never read for fun.  When you read to a child three things are pleasurably happening at the same time.  1.  Your child is hearing unknown words used in meaningful context.  2. You too are learning.  You get to go back and read great books that you missed out on as a child.  3.  You are feeding the listening vocabulary, which spills over to the speaking vocabulary, reading vocabulary, and then into the writing vocabulary.

          Prevent Summer Learning Loss

    Summer is coming, but if you think these lazy, hazy days should be all play, take a   look at the following statistics and learning retention strategies for parents offered by Alice Spingola, district literacy coach:

• On average, students lose approximately 2.6 months of grade level equivalency in mathematical computation skills during the summer months.

• Elementary students can lose two or more months of math knowledge or reading skills, or 22 percent of what they learned.

• The most comprehensive study of the effects of summer vacation on standardized test scores indicates that children‘s test scores are at least one month lower when they return in the fall than when they leave in the spring. That adds up to a full year or more of lost potential before they go to college or a career. (more)

    Cyber Bullying

          Unfortunately, kids have been bullying each other for generations.

The latest generation, however, has been utilizing technology as a means to send messages and the number of cyber-bullying incidents have grown
overwhelmingly, according to Kathleen Hatczel, assistant superintendent, Curriculum and Assessment.
She reports that bullying occurs where teenagers "hang out" and says cyber- bullying should not come as a surprise because most teenagers have cell phones, instant message on the internet, participate in social networking sites such as Face book or video-sharing sites such as YouTube, or play on video gaming sites. (more)

For more Information about Cyber bulling Please visit the Sites below.

Cyberbullying

OnGuard – Social Networking Site for Parents