Why 20 Minutes of Daily Reading is Essential for Kids' Academic Growth
After a long summer holiday, educators refer to the "summer slide." It's a common phenomenon where students of all ages might experience a decrease in their academic skills and knowledge due to a lack of structured learning during their time off.
During summer break, children deserve to enjoy some fun in the sun and relax away from school routines. However, this break can also mean less exposure to new concepts, fewer daily lessons to expand their understanding, and less practice and testing that helps reinforce what they've learned.
Summer slide has been a topic of interest for researchers over the years. A significant study from 1996 first highlighted the issue when it revealed that children suffered considerable knowledge loss in both reading and math after summer break. More recent research focused on 7-10 year olds confirmed these findings, indicating that students lost around 20% of their reading abilities and nearly 27% of their math skills during the summer months.
To tackle the reading issue and minimise learning loss during the summer holidays, 20 minutes reading a day recommended to keep these skills moving forward.
Researching the reason why 20 minutes a day is recommened for reading here are the claims stated across many websites.
Reading 20 minutes a day benefits:
Mental health
Reading can reduce stress and negative emotions, and release hormones like dopamine and serotonin. It has been proven that only 6 minutes of reading can reduce stress by 68% and increase your sleep.
Brain health
Reading 20 minutes a day has benefits for the health and strength of your brain. Reading is a complicated process, and as you read, your brain changes, it creates new circuits and connections. As your reading skills grow, these connections in the brain get more substantial and complex. Reading strengthens our visual cortex and memory functions, and slows down mental decline later in life
Vocabulary and writing skills
Reading can help increase vocabulary and spelling proficiency. The research says when we read 20 minutes a day, we are exposed to 1.8 BILLION words a year. It can also encourage them to ask questions, and students who read 20 minutes a day may score higher on standardised tests.
Empathy
Reading can help develop empathy and improve social cognition, which can make it easier to understand others' perspectives and emotions. Reading daily can help make a child's imagination stronger by introducing them to new concepts, new cultures, and a whole new world of possibilities.
We found these 2024 Summer Reads Book Recommendations, for 3-11 year olds if you are looking for inspiration.
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