Just when you thought all the reasons to read were on the table, here come some more! The feast of reading includes acquiring grammar, vocabulary and strong writing skills. As a matter of fact, according to decades of research, we gain the majority of our vocabulary knowledge and grammar skills through the act of reading and not by worksheets, dictionaries or sentence creations with random vocabulary words. This is busy work that does not ‘stick’ and is soon lost after it is practiced.
Reading is biology, much like how we acquired our language skills. It is the act of immersing someone in another language when they begin to acquire it. The same is true for reading and literacy. Students who read a lot are typically better at grammar use, creative writing, have larger vocabularies and therefore can comprehend what they read in an easier fashion. Reading trumps worksheets and rote drill work any day. If you have school age children, k-12, make sure the teacher is giving your child the time to read EVERY DAY in class. This is critical in practicing their direct instruction from that day. It then goes without saying those same students should have the opportunity to read something of their choice at home EVERY NIGHT.