Ask your child the following questions everyday!

What did YOU read today? and What did YOUR TEACHER read to YOU today?

In Maury County Public Schools, reading is important.  Children who read a lot and read daily are more successful in school than children who do not read frequently.  In fact, test scores show that children who read thirteen minutes each day score at a low average range, but children who read forty minutes each day score at the very high range on standardized tests.  Reading is the most important thing your child can do with his or her free time.

 What should your child read?

 Your child must read in a book at their independent reading level.  If your child is reading a book that is too hard, or too easy, the time they spend reading is wasted.  It is like baseball.  To get better at batting, a player goes out to the mound each day and practices.  He/she practices with players close to his/her playing level in baseball.  He or she does not practice with a professional (too hard), or another child that has never played baseball before (too easy).  He or she plays baseball with other children who are similar to his ability level.

 It is the same with reading.  Your child needs to practice every day at the right level.  Your child needs to read a book that is “Just Right.”  A Just Right book is one your child can read easily.

 How many minutes should your child read? 

**Children in kindergarten need to read, or be read to, at least 20 minutes a day in a Just Right book.

**Children in first and second grades need to read at least 20 minutes a day in a Just Right book.

**Children in third through sixth grade need to read at least 30 minutes a day in a Just Right book.

 Adapted from Edward A. Hickman, Director of Maury County Schools, 2006