An article in the Chicago Tribune caught my attention.  It cited a story from Renaissance Learning, an educational analytics company about reading patterns among students.  Students who read 30 minutes a day will encounter 13.5 million words by the time they finish high school.  Students who read less than 15 minutes a day will encounter only 1.5 million words by the time they graduate from high school.  "High exposure to words is crucial in developing vocabulary, fluency, comprehension, writing and higher-order thinking skills," the report says.