Benefits of Reading and School Libraries
“Impacts of Reading” by Annarita A., 7th grade
Reading can be beneficial, not only to learning scholars, but even to full grown adults. Reading is amazing for everyone. It can help with so many things, varying from improved memory and concentration to mental health. Reading can even reduce the risk of dementia! After school most people stop reading. But some people refrain from reading even in their school years ! Reading while you are young can help so much. Let’s go over the benefits and impacts of reading. At the end of this post I will link some book recommendations.
CONCENTRATION
Reading can provide long term benefits to concentration. It increases the amount of white matter in the brain which is known to help focus and learning skills. It also improves attention spans. Concentration is very important and in the present world our attention spans are slowly drifting away to social media. So instead of scrolling through your favorite apps, take a few minutes to open a book and read! 🙂
ENHANCED VOCABULARY
Have you ever stumbled across a word and have absolutely no idea what it means? Well when you are reading you will most probably stumble across those words more often. Especially in more advanced reader books. When you come upon the words your brain will learn to connect these words with context clues and slowly you will learn what that word means.
INCREASED CREATIVITY
Reading books, more specifically fiction books can boost your creativity. Immersing yourself in different worlds and characters can definitely help you. It will boost your brain’s creativity and help with the real world. Especially if you are thinking of or have a job that requires a lot of creative thinking!
MENTAL HEALTH
Reading is also amazing for your Mental Health. Have you ever felt so stressed out? Well open a book and start reading. Reading books can help reduce stress and can make you forget about the stressful things. It can also help with sleep. Have you thought about why parents read to their children at night? It can also reduce heart rate and blood pressure. Reading overall can make you feel calm and relaxed.
HOW TO FIND THE PERFECT BOOK FOR YOU
Well all these benefits I went over can only help if you actually read! Reading can be really, really fun and you will enjoy it so much. But first you need to find a good book that you will enjoy. Most kids hate reading because they are usually forced into reading books that others pick for them. They can’t find something that they would like. So find something that clicks with you. To do that you need to think about what you like. For example if you were interested enough to get this far into this post, you might like reading non fiction or informational articles/books. If non fiction doesn’t really connect with you, you can explore different options. For example if you love magic and adventure you can find books like that. My recommendation is Harry Potter by J.K Rowling or Wings of Fire by Tui T. Sutherland. Or if you are more into Mystery/ Dystopian fiction I would recommend Cinder by Marrisa Meyers. If you like Murder Mysteries, A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder by Holly Jackson is the most amazing Murder Mystery series EVER! These are just some of my personal recommendations. There are so many other books out there. You just have to find the perfect one for you!
CONCLUSION
After reading this do you realize how amazing reading is? Reading can be so good for many things like concentration, mental health, and creativity! After you read this post I hope you will be convinced to start reading or if you already read a lot, you can check out my personal book recommendations from above. I hope this post convinced you to read and collect all the amazing benefits from it! 🙂
“Benefits to Reading” by Leo S., 8th grade
When you come to think of reading you may see it as just a way to make the time go by faster or simply a way of entertainment. However reading can help you in many different ways that you probably haven’t heard of before.
IMAGINATION
One of the things that reading can help you with is developing your imagination, especially non-picture books. You know how when you read a book with little to no pictures and you have to imagine how the characters look and the setting. Well this actually makes your brain and your imagination work since you are having to force your brain to imagine everything happening in the book since the book itself can’t show you everything. And graphic novels are great and all but if you actually want books to benefit your imagination then text-only books are the way to go.
BETTER TEST SCORES
Not only can reading help develop your imagination but it can even make you get better grades on tests and assignments in school! You know how on most tests you have to do some reading especially for language arts tests. Imagine if there is a question that tells you to find the definition of a word or there is a confusing word in general in the question. If you happened to read more books before that test then you probably would have a much easier time doing the test and would probably get a better grade. Not only would it help on language arts tests but also for science and math since it could help you to read more carefully and have a higher chance of getting the question correctly.
ATTENTION SPAN
Your test grades and imagination aren’t the only things that can improve through reading so can your attention span! Reading long books trains your brain to get used to having to deal with longer events or even movies. Because most kids in middle school often have lower attention spans so it becomes harder to pay attention in class and when you are watching movies or even short videos at home. Reading could make you able to watch a 3 hour long movie without wanting to watch something else in the first 10 minutes of the movie. Overall doing this could even make you want to read longer books as well!
(Don’t get the attention span of a goldfish!)
DECREASES STRESS
Now one of the best things that reading can do for you is decreasing your amount of stress. You see imagine if you were worried about a test in school or an event, reading could help calm your mind. Reading can even make you sleepy sometimes since you are making your brain work while you are reading and it has for me and when you are tired you may feel less stress then before reading. Not just that decreases stress if you are reading a book that is funny then laughing could make you feel better. And if you were reading an interesting book then it could keep you excited or invested in the story making you forget about the things you were worrying about.
So overall you should read whether it’s in the summer or this week, reading gives you so many benefits. It gives benefits like lower stress, a bigger imagination, a longer attention span, and even better grades in school. So overall I would recommend reading 2 books a week if you can because reading gives you tons of great benefits for you.
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“Reading Has Several Positive Effects on the Mind” by Scarlet-Gray S., 7th grade
Reading can have several positive effects on the mind. Reading can help us learn new words. Every time we read a book, no matter what book it is, we discover new words that can improve our speaking and writing skills. Using these new words that we’ve learned from reading when we talk or do our schoolwork can help us speak more clearly. Reading also helps our creativity by getting our imagination working. For example, when we read a mystery book, we try to figure out the clues with the characters, which can help us think more creatively. Also, reading can make us more empathetic. Like when we read about different characters and their experiences, we start to understand their feelings, which helps us be more considerate and more open minded. So in conclusion, reading helps us learn new words, boosts creativity, and helps us understand others better. So, the next time you read a book, remember that you are learning new skills. Reading is a very important thing to do and can have many benefits to our minds.
“The Positive Effects of Having Libraries in Schools” by Arden W., 8th grade
School libraries are more than just a collection of books; they are warm and inviting places that encourage curiosity, fun, and opportunities for learning
As the school year kicks off, school libraries play an important role in helping students grow as readers and thinkers, from picture books and graphic novels to chapter books. Engaging with a variety of different genres not only boosts their creativity but also sharpens their critical thinking skills.
Most children start school at the age of 5, a time where they are improving their communication skills and engaging more with their peers. Reading helps children articulate their ideas more effectively, especially in academic settings or when interacting with classmates. This is why having a school library is so important.
A warm and welcoming school library invites students to explore its cozy spaces, embarking on adventures through the stories on the shelves, holding countless books and endless opportunities to learn.
Some of my most fond and cherished memories are tied to the school libraries back in elementary school. My school librarian always recommended the best books for me based on my interests at the time. Her dedication to her job definitely made visiting the school library a wonderful and enjoyable experience.
“The Impact of a Library Inside a School” by Diogo R., 8th grade
A school library isn’t just a place to find yourself some books, and I’m going to prove it to you.
1) A Safe Space
Inside a library students can read, study, and do other things without being interrupted, making them get more focused and also have a good time, which is very important for the mental health of a student, to just have a time off
2) Literacy
Books are the main purpose of a library and one of the most important, because books are so versatile, they can be used to study, they can be used to solve problems, they can be used to have fun, and way more other things, they are the key for everything in life.
3) Technology
Most school libraries have something related to technology like tech help, which saves lives, because no one wants to have a broken computer. Which is the future of learning, because technology makes learning way easier and simpler, which will make smarter and smarter kids.
Conclusion
School libraries are one of the most important places in a school, because they are a place that develops a student’s brain, by reading books, by giving them time to focus, and the technology to study. Libraries also have the power to help students have some time off to relax and have a good time.
Thank you so much to my student voices today and their look at reading and school libraries!
