The Goal:

Students should read for a minimum of 15-20 minutes each night. Especially when there is no homework, they can still read; whether it is in the car, at the arena, on the couch, or in bed before falling asleep.

The Reason for the Goal:

To understand the value of regular reading, let's break it down mathematically with a short story...

The Story of Tim and Tom

Tim does not really like to read and so he usually quits after 4 minutes or so. Tom loves to read and so he often reads more than 20 minutes each day (for the sake of simple calculations, let's just say that he reads for 20 minutes each day).

There are 5 school nights in a week, so after 1 week:

Tim has read for 20 minutes (4 x 5 = 20)

Tom has read for 100 minutes (20 x 5 = 100)

There are 4 weeks in a month, so after 1 month:

Tim has read for 80 minutes (20 x 4 = 80)

Tom has read for 400 minutes (100 x 4 = 400)

There are 10 months in a school year, so after one school year:

Tim has read for 800 minutes (80 x 10 = 800)

Tom has read for 4000 minutes (400 x 10 = 4000)

You may not think much about high school yet but let's continue to follow this trend to see who is preparing better. Grade 6 students have three more years of school (including this one) before they graduate and leave for high school, so...

Tim reads for 800 x 3 = 2400 minutes of reading.

Tom reads for 4000 x 3 = 12000 minutes of reading!!!

The Conclusion:

Who has read more books? Who will have experienced more genres? Who can read more fluently? Who has more confidence in their oral reading? Who has stronger reading comprehension? ...but there's more! Who do you think would be better at spelling? Have a stronger vocabulary? Be a better writer? Express themself better? Be a better critical thinker? Understand different point of views? Be a better traveller? Understand more about different cultures? Be more interested in current events and world issues? Respect other opinions? Have more world knowledge? And the list goes on...who will be more successful in high school? In life???

How much will YOU read?