
By: Dawn Cranston, Elementary Principal
Starting in kindergarten, if a student reads or is read to 20 minutes a day at home, they will hear 1.8 million words per year. They will have read for 851 hours by 6th grade and will likely score better than 90% of their peers on standardized tests. This is compelling data on the benefits of encouraging your child to read.
Unfortunately, children today read less frequently than any previous generation and enjoy reading less than young people did in the past, according to new research. Less than 50% of children under the age of 5 are regularly read to at home and only about 25% of students age 18 and under spend some time reading every day.
At SBCA, we want to partner with parents in encouraging our students to read at home. You may have noticed the little library that was added to our campus this summer. A little library is a free book-sharing box where anyone may take a book or share a book. We have several located throughout campus that are designated to certain grade levels, including a parent library.
We encourage parents to take advantage of this terrific resource to enhance your students at home reading options. Stop by often and take a book or leave a book.
Special thank you to Bobby Wood, an SBCA sophomore who took on the little library as his Eagle Scout project this summer. Bobby raised money to purchase building materials and he constructed each of our little library boxes.