NBC12 VIEWPOINT: March is National Reading Awareness Month

By: Kym Grinnage email

March is National Reading Awareness Month and I did some research to see what single thing all parents could do to help their young children become learners and readers for life. I discovered the power of 15 minutes.

Did you know that if a child is not reading at grade level by the end of the first grade, that there is an 88% probability that the child will not be at grade level by the end of the fourth grade. By age four, low income children have heard an average 32 million fewer words than their wealthier peers. And in even in higher income households, nearly 40% of families do not read aloud every day.

Reading aloud may be the single most important thing you can do to prepare your child to learn. So what can we do? As parents and guardians we can make a commitment to 15 minutes of reading aloud every day or night with your children or someone else's child.

And if you have time to volunteer to read aloud to a child call your local school and ask how you can be a reader.

I still remember my mother reading Curious George to me at night and I remember reading the same books to my girls. Everyone has 15 minutes of reading time for a child. Have you done your 15 minutes of reading today?

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