To encourage reading for pleasure as well as improve their literacy skills, comprehension, and memory, year 7 students have been participating in the Accelerated Reader programme since November, taking on-line quizzes on the books they have enjoyed.
There are now three year 7s who have read over 1,000,000 words each since the start of the programme – huge congratulations to Elodie, Ella and Tiffany!
These three girls have read a range of books from a variety of genres including titles from the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne, Frozen Charlotte by Alex Bell, the Bodyguard series by Chris Bradford, and books by David Walliams, Philip Pullman, Sally Gardner, and Katharine Rundell.
At the time of going to press year 7 as a whole have read nearly 11 million words and passed 215 book quizzes.
Research from the Centre for Longitudinal Studies at the Institute of Education states “…reading for pleasure was found to be more important for children’s cognitive development between ages 10 and 16 than their parents’ level of education. The combined effect on children’s progress of reading books often, going to the library regularly and reading newspapers at 16 was four times greater than the advantage children gained from having a parent with a degree.”
http://www.cls.ioe.ac.uk/library-media%5Cdocuments%5CReadingforpleasurestoppress.pdf
Other research by The Reading Agency shows that “…reading for pleasure can increase empathy, improve relationships with others, reduce the symptoms of depression and improve wellbeing throughout life.”
So keep on reading – it’s officially good for you!