READING BUDDIES
A mentor reading program to combine upper grades with lower grades to create a friendly community of working students.
I work in a low socioeconomic area. We are a Title 1 school and many of my students are on food stamps. Many of them do not have the family life at home that lends itself to allow them to get the extra help and support they need. Therefor, I have been working with my admin to put together a mentor program with lower elementary students and upper elementary students. To kick start the program we are placing lower elementary students with a higher elementary student for a Reading Buddy program.
For this program I created a resource packet so the students can read with their partners and respond to their reading. The following information breaks down the packet to show you what is included.
Getting to Know Your Buddy
TO begin, I start the packet out with some getting to know you pages. There are boy versions and girl versions. Here, the students write down things they learn about their partner from a session of questions and answers.
In this same section I added a Buddy List where the two can discuss the top 5 books they Love to give them an idea of what kinds of books they like to read. This will help the Reading Buddies program mean more to each student.
Next, I added a page for the students to discuss how they really feel about reading. This will give the mentor an idea of what they are working with, as well as give them a chance to show students who do not lie reading how wonderful it really is.
Characters
Next, I included two pages for students to analyze the characters in their story. These focus on inside and outside characteristics.
Setting, Problem & Solution
Next, there are three pages dedicated to analyzing the setting, problem and solution of the story. On each of these pages the students are asked to draw a detailed picture of each and then write about it as well.
Making Connections
The following three pages are included for students to work with their partner on learning how to make great connections to their story. The first page includes all three connections (text-self, text-text & text-world). The other two pages focus on text-self and text-text.
Creation Pages
The next two pages are two small little creation projects for the partners to work on. The first is for them to create their own new ending to the story. Then they are asked to compare it to the real ending. The second project is for them to create a new cover of the book.
Thank You Notes
TO finish up the pack, I included thank you notes for the little ones to write to their mentor for all the time and hard work they did!
So there you have it! That is all the resources that are included in this pack! I am extremely excited to start this with my kiddos next week! I hope that it brings students together young and old and helps create a sense of community between the older and younger kiddos!!!