On a summer afternoon, Ciara Whelan, a teacher at a New York, City elementary school, visits one of her students in the Bronx, Sapphira, who fell behind in her reading.

This home visit is the beginning of a reading program called Springboard Collaborative. Springboard runs after-school and summer programs with struggling readers. Once each week, a family member — mom, dad, grandma, an old sibling (兄弟姐妹) — attends an hour-long workshop to help learn and practice the approaches students are learning in class. “Parent engagement (参与) is the beating heart of our programs,” says founder Alejandro Gibes de Gac. “It’s the spirit in the cocktail.”

Sapphira’s Springboard program is held in a classroom at a charter school in Manhattan. In the classroom, Sapphira’s dad, sits with his daughter, helping her mark her place in the book. After a few minutes of reading together, Whelan tells parents to ask students to summarize what is happening every few pages, to check comprehension.

In the past seven years, Springboard has collected a great amount of data to prove its effectiveness. For example: In just five weeks, on average, 3 out of 4 students get to the next reading level or even further. The program also gives books to each child. Backpacks full of school supplies and tablets are offered as encouragement for completing the whole program.

Springboard plans to increase the size by spreading its model, with a goal of reaching 100,000 children in the next four years. Currently it’s running tests in different cities to see which parts of the program are necessary and important and which could be cut if a particular school lacks money for them. For example, the free tablet and backpack, it has found, don’t seem to make much difference in the program’s success. The key instead is the promise that parents make to their children.

You've finally tucked yourself into bed and opened the detective novel you've been waiting all day to get back to. Three pages later, you're fighting a losing battle against two suddenly very heavy eyelids. You were wide awake mere minutes ago. 【小题1】

【小题2】 As the BBC’s Science Focus explains, people usually love to read in a quiet, comfortable bed, and this condition happens to be ideal for sleep.

Reading also eases your mind and draws its focus away from whatever preoccupations might otherwise keep you awake.

“For many people, reading can be relaxing and enjoyable, which can put your mind and body in the appropriate mindset or mood to go to sleep and can get you ready to fall asleep,” Dr. Raman Malhotra, a neurologist and member of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine's board of directors told Refinery. “【小题3】”

The concentration required to process every word can be pretty exhausting, too, especially if you choose a large heavy book. And reading line after line of anything is tiring. 【小题4】.

These factors all make reading a great activity to add to your pre-sleep routine if you' re looking for ways to fall asleep faster. But if your body’s snoozing impulse is continually keeping you from enjoying a good book, there are some tricks to prevent it. Book Riot suggests reading in the morning, or trying an audiobook instead. 【小题5】 Preferably one where you're sitting up, rather than lying down can help.

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