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Idaho Enterprise

Stone Elementary’s Seuss-tastical Readers

The students of Stone Elementary celebrated Read Across America Day, a day dedicated to the encouragement and promotion of childhood reading.  Read Across America Day is celebrated on the birthday of the famous children’s author, Theodore Seuss Geisel, most commonly known as Dr. Seuss.  With his stories of “Green Eggs and Ham,” “The Cat in the Hat,” “Hop on Pop,” “Mr. Brown Can Moo. Can you?” and so many, many more, Dr. Seuss opened up a whole new world to his young readers.  Among his wacky words and creative characters are life lessons of acceptance, taking a stand, trying new things and the importance of honesty and integrity, just to name a few.

 Students came to school ready to snuggle up with a good book with their pjs on and their favorite story-time books in their backpacks.  Visitors including Superintendent Mr. Abrams, parents, siblings, grandparents and friends were invited to join the students for the afternoon’s story-time with a sweet side of doughnuts.  While books from Dr. Seuss’s were the highlight of story-time, many other favorite books were shared from teachers and students alike.  Many of the beginning readers showcased their new reading talents simply by reading the sight words they have been working so hard to learn.  Regardless of the books, the readers, their ages or skill, everyone enjoyed the chance to get wrapped up in a good book.

 The importance of reading is all too often underestimated.  The truth is that reading is a gateway to a broader world.  Many ask, why is reading important?  Years of experience and studies have proven that reading can expand the mind, improve comprehension and concentration and can even reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s.  Reading allows for greater perspectives, greater analytical skills, greater creative thinking and ultimately greater knowledge.

 Reading by the numbers:

Reading for only six minutes a day reduces stress by 68%.

Children with a home library of at least 20 books have been found to achieve three more years of schooling than children that don’t.

Reading for 20 minutes a day adds up to reading 1,800,000 words in a year.

Reading one book each day to your child will add up to 1825 books by their 5th birthday.

Reading exposes children to 72% more unique vocabulary words than conversation alone does.