Why Can't I Skip My Twenty 
Minutes of Reading Tonight?

Let's figure it out -- mathematically!
(Source: Read Across America - NEA) 
The importance and cumulative effects of daily reading. 

  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 min./week

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

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 min. in a school year.
 Student B reads 720 min. in a school year.

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

Student B gets the equivalent of only two 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.

Student B will have read the equivalent of only 12 school days. 

     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?