| Why Can't I Skip My Twenty Minutes of Reading Tonight? Let's figure it out --- mathematically!! | 
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| 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 minutes x 5 times a week = 100 minutes a week. | 
| Student B reads 4 minutes x 5 times a week = 20 minutes or less. | 
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| 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 or less. | 
| Step 3: Multiply minutes a month x 9 months in a school year. | 
| Student A reads 3600 minutes in a school year. | 
| Student B reads 720 minutes or less 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 or less 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 or less | 
| One would expect the gap of information retained will have widened considerably and so, undoubtedly, will school performance. How do you think Student B will feel about him/herself as a student? | 
| 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? |