Year 7 students are being challenged to ‘Drop Everything And Read’ (DEAR) for at least 10 minutes each day throughout Term 3, as part of the Wide Reading program.
The competition will be fierce for the class and student who read the most with prizes and incentives on offer.
Students may not realise that reading exercises the brain for the academic work of their classes and improves their health and wellbeing. Some students are happy to train for sport once or twice each week, but are reluctant to read regularly. Some manage to find 10 minutes or more each day to Snapchat or check Instagram, but often not to read for pleasure.
Year 7 students have already responded to a reader survey with comments such as:
“I love so much to read, it takes you to so many new places.”
We are certain that students will enjoy the competition and develop some good reading habits along the way.
Why not take up the challenge yourself and read together as a family?
5 ways your daughter can ‘Drop Everything and Read’:
- Waiting for dinner to be ready
- Travelling to and from school by bus or train
- Lazy Sunday afternoons
- Finishing classwork early
- Waiting to be collected from school or sport
Time to ‘Drop Everything and Read’
Further reading:
Allcott, L. (2019). Reading on-screen vs reading in print: What’s the difference for learning? National Library of New Zealand
LaMotte, S. (2020). New guidelines on screen time for young children. based upon Horowitz-Kraus T and Hutton JS. (April 2018) "Brain connectivity in children is increased by the time they spend reading books and decreased by the length of exposure to screen-based media.” Acta Paediatrica: Nurturing the Child.
National Library of New Zealand. (2012). Reading for pleasure — a door to success.
Walter, J. (2019). Audiobooks or Reading? To Our Brains, It Doesn’t Matter.
Wolf, M. (2014). Reader Come Home