October 28, 2021
It’s the end of the first quarter, which means it’s time for my annual proclamation that reading is everything, and I can’t overstate the benefits of modeling healthy reading habits at home. In Reader’s Workshop, many of our classes discuss building their “reading lives” to convey the point that reading isn’t an hour-long chunk of the day, but woven deeply into our daily lives. It is simply the foundation of everything we do here at school. Before any of you math folk raise eyebrows (looking at you, Mr. Norry!), I am not stating that reading is the “most important” subject. I am saying, however, that a strong relationship with reading opens pathways to literally every other subject in school, and that having practice and confidence in this area is a key component in helping students thrive.
All of our students are on a different journey with reading, and whether they’re deep into Tolkien novels or just discovering Jack and Annie’s magic treehouse, the reading that they do at home is vital to their reading lives. Simply speaking, children should be reading daily at home. Beyond that, I encourage families to pick a family novel to read together to balance out that evening television show. Listen to an audiobook in the car to balance out the music or movies that often serve as driving entertainment. Ask your children about the stories they’re reading, either independently or in class. Books provide us with so many opportunities for learning, even well into adulthood, and fostering a positive relationship with books at an early age will serve your children abundantly in the years to come.
