By Melissa Moore-Randall
Whelan third and fourth graders are part of a new program with their West Revere Complex neighbors, eighth-graders from the SBA. Reading Buddies is a program where Whelan Elementary students are paired with eighth graders from Ms. Peterbark’s 8th Grade Civics class. The Whelan students are from Ms. Corrado, Ms. Randall and Ms. Lecesse’s classes. The program was started with Peterbank and Kristina Menissian, a Middle School C2C Instructional Coach.
According to Menissian, “The goals of the program are to increase Grade 8 SBA students’ confidence in reading aloud, offer a non-threatening environment for Grade 8 students to practice the skills of reading, presenting, and fluency, build relationships across RPS students/West Revere Complex, and increase Grade 8 students’ mentor/leadership skills. Each month, the students have been meeting. During their monthly Reading Buddy time the SBA students read a children’s book brought by Whelan students, read to them for 20 minutes, create three questions to ask their buddy, collect responses from their buddy, and write a thank you to them. The Whelan students will participate as active listeners and answer questions posed by their buddy.”
Third grade students were very excited about being part of the program.
Abbie B – “I loved it because my two buddies were kind and generous.”
Davi D – “It was great and fun meeting new people and making friends with 8th graders.”
Aicha Z – “They were very nice and kind to me. I liked when they were asking me questions about me.”
According to research provided by Peterback in her initial proposal for the program:
1. Reading buddies have a positive effect on students. Students perceived reading buddies as a time for social interactions and developing friendships.
2. Struggling readers tended to spend less time on reading and comprehension strategies when compared to high-proficient readers.
3. Older Buddies developed a greater awareness of how they could be classroom leaders and how important teachers really are, gained skills and strategies for helping their Little Buddies stay on task, resulting in significantly increased leadership qualities and improved self-esteem.Younger Buddies look to their Big Buddies as role models and as a source of encouragement.
4. Though they were shy at the beginning of the program, the Little Buddies began to show more confidence. They couldn’t wait to share their “cool” new words with their Big Buddies. They would raise their hands without hesitation when a question was asked and would talk easily with their Big Buddies
5. Reading Buddies allows younger readers to see what being fluent looks like as they have a peer model demonstrating reading skills; they can also acquire a positive role model with some intentional pairing. The older students develop social and emotional skills like patience and empathy as they work with their little buddies.
