Hero Happenings
February 9, 2024
February 9, 2024
Yearbook Sales
State Testing
We are headed to the State testing window for 3rd-6th graders. Please check with your child's teacher for testing dates. Some ways that you can help your student prepare for a successful testing day:
- Get plenty of sleep the night before
- Eat a healthy breakfast
- Wear comfortable clothes
- Be on time to school
Hale Carnival
Save the date! Hale Carnival is Friday, April 5th. PTO is hard at work planning this event. Join the PTO meeting on Monday, February 12 for planning information.
Parent Input
Parent input for students entering grades 1st-6th in the 24/25 school year will be in April. We will be using an online Google Form, like last year. There will be no forms available in the office. Please watch upcoming newsletters for more information and directions.
Please remember that this is a parent input and not a guarantee for placement in a classroom. Input is based on student/classroom needs as well as timestamp on the form. Please fill the form out completely or input will be void.
STEAM Night
From the School Counselor
7 Benefits Of Reading 20 Minutes a Day
By Basmo
Reading is an amazing pass-time activity or can be a great tool for self-development. Whether you’re reading for entertainment purposes or studying to acquire a new skill or to gather information about a certain topic, your time is very well-spent when reading.
Luckily, experts have determined that we can take advantage of the benefits of reading even after a short 20 minute reading session. If you’re asking yourself “what are the benefits of reading 20 minutes a day?” or simply “why read 20 minutes a day?”, you’re in the right place.
We did the research and compiled a list of the most important benefits of reading 20 minutes a day and added a couple of tips on how you can start including this healthy habit in your daily schedule.
What are the benefits of reading 20 minutes a day?
- One episode of your favorite show on Netflix is likely to be 30 minutes or more
- The average American spends 7 hours and 4 minutes looking at a screen every day
- Commuting to work takes the average American over 27 minutes (one way)
- The average American spends 37 minutes every day cooking
These statistics, in this context, have the sole purpose of proving what an insignificant amount of time 20 minutes represents in our day-to-day lives.
So why read 20 minutes a day? Well, for one thing, because it’s incredibly easy and it takes a very small portion of your day.
1. By reading 20 minutes a day, you expose yourself to 1.8 million words in a year
When you dedicate only 20 minutes of your time to reading every day, it is estimated that you will get exposed to 1.8 million words yearly leading to increased general knowledge, communication and analytical skills, and you will obviously enrich your vocabulary substantially.
That may not seem like a big deal for you, but it actually is. Regardless of our age, being exposed to written content is very important, and enriching our vocabulary has a ton of benefits by itself.
If for us, as adults, being exposed to 1.8 million words in a year is important, you should also take into account what that does to a child’s mind. At a young age, our brains are like sponges, absorbing all the information we provide it with. Reading just 20 minutes a day can work wonders in shaping young minds. The next point is a testament to that.
2. Reading can relieve stress by 68% in a lot less than 20 minutes
Studies show that reading every day can reduce the level of stress that your body may experience. Stress is termed to be great in the short term as it pushes people to greater heights, but it is detrimental to our lives when prolonged.
When you spend at least 20 minutes reading, you ultimately reduce your stress, anxiety, and the chances of suffering from insomnia. It has been proven that only 6 minutes of reading can reduce stress by 68%. Imagine what you can achieve in twenty.
3. Taking 20 minutes to read every day can boost mental health
Reading has many health benefits, but since most of the magic happens in your brain, it’s only natural that your brain benefits the most from reading.
Researchers have shown through MRI scans that reading is achieved, from an anatomical point of view, through a complex neuronal network. The circuits and signals are a sign of intense brain activity, which, in time, strengthens our brains.
We all know by now that our brain is like a muscle, and a 20 minutes reading session per day is a great workout, similar to cardio training.
4. Reading slows down mental decline in late stages of life
Studies have shown that reading has a positive effect on slowing down mental decline as we get older. When we reach a certain age, our brains start to deteriorate. While this is inevitable, the rate at which the deterioration occurs can be influenced by a series of factors.
One of them has to do with how engaged we keep our brains on a daily basis. Alzheimer’s disease and dementia have been proven to be avoided or at least delayed through the simple act of reading.
While a specific amount of time spent reading per day hasn’t been included in the studies, the general consensus is that daily reading sessions lasting 20 minutes or more could be a good enough workout for our brains to delay mental decline.
5. Reading 20 minutes before bed can alleviate insomnia
Sleep is a very crucial factor that determines many aspects of our health, both physical and mental. Not being able to sleep, or having an inefficient sleep can have a negative impact on our well-being.
Luckily, simply reading before going to bed has been found to be a very effective way of falling asleep faster and achieving a more restful night’s sleep. Statistics show that reading before bed, even if just for 20 minutes, can have a lot of benefits.
6. Become a more empathetic person through 20 minutes of reading a day
Another well known and documented benefit of reading is the fact that both children and adults who read have higher levels of empathy and emotional intelligence.
In a world that is becoming more technical by the day and with so many of our peers closing up and hiding behind their phone screens, emotional intelligence is becoming a more and more valuable personality trait.
Luckily, among the many other things that determine the importance of reading 20 minutes a day is also the fact that perusing a good book can basically make us better human beings altogether.
By exposing our minds (or our child’s mind) to different life stories, the feelings and thoughts of different characters and discovering how those feelings and thoughts influence their actions in a book, makes it easier for us in the long run to understand other people’s feelings in real life.
Since 20 minutes of reading per day equates to 1.8 million words in a year, we can easily average that out to 18 books read in a year (100,000 words per book). That is 18 different stories to learn from. If you started reading at the age of 7, that means you will have read close to 600 books by the time you’re 40. We need more of that in our world.
Hopefully, these reading 20 minutes a day statistics have helped you decide to start doing it as well. If this sounds like you, this next section will fit you like a glove.
7. Children who read 20 minutes a day score in the 90th percentile
Children who take their time and read for approximately twenty minutes daily are exposed to a large number of books and stories throughout the year, improving their understanding and analytical skills while also enriching their vocabulary and shaping their personalities.
This has been shown to eventually result in them scoring in the 90th percentile which depicts increased academic performance. Considering the decreasing school performance of children all around the world due to the constantly increasing time spent on social media platforms and gaming, getting your child to read for just twenty minutes every day can make a huge difference.
Full article at: https://basmo.app/reading-20-minutes-a-day/
PTO Meeting
Monday, Feb 12, 2024, 02:15 PM
President's Day, No School
Monday, Feb 19, 2024, 07:00 AM
Family STEAM Night
Thursday, Feb 22, 2024, 05:00 PM
End of third quarter, noon release
Friday, Mar 15, 2024, 07:00 AM
Spring Break, March 18-22
Monday, Mar 18, 2024, 07:00 AM
Spring Holiday, No School
Friday, Mar 29, 2024, 07:00 AM
Hale Elementary
Email: hale@mpsaz.org
Website: hale.mpsaz.org
Location: 1425 North 23rd Street, Mesa, AZ, USA
Phone: (480)472-7400
Facebook: facebook.com/hale