Book Buddies make positive difference for students
Shannon Rigsby
Mustang North Middle School’s alternative education classes have been making a difference in the life of a Mustang Creek Elementary classroom for three years.
Each week students from Teri Hood’s Reaching Students Through Successful Education program are the Book Buddies in Patricia Weeks’ first-grade classroom at Creek. The older students listen to the first-graders read. The interaction helps the first-graders with vocabulary, pronunciation and learning to keep their place while they read. They also teach the first-graders how to ask the right questions about the book to improve reading comprehension.
“It is very helpful to have listeners for first grade students that are also capable of helping them with the writing process, reading, AR (Accelerated Reader) tests, etc. And the first graders have the opportunity to have a one-on-one experience listening to someone other than a parent or their teacher read books they have chosen. They form bonds with their book buddies,” Weeks said.
The older students reap benefits from the program as well.
“I found out the first year that when my students began asking questions about the story, they started to realize the things they needed to look for in their own reading time,” Hood said. “They started to infer, put sequences together, foretell and look for hidden messages. My students did better on their own book tests for the second semester.”
The relationship the Book Buddies develop with each other may be just as important as the acquired reading skills. The younger students are excited to see their Book Buddies arrive, which gives the middle school students a sense of self-worth, Hood said.
“The best part of this is to see my students feel good about themselves,” she said. “I know we go to help that little one read, but we get much more out of it than they do. One of my boys was telling a little Book Buddy last year, that he should always find something good about school, stay excited and never give up, even if it’s hard.”
Shannon Rigsby
Mustang North Middle School’s alternative education classes have been making a difference in the life of a Mustang Creek Elementary classroom for three years.
Each week students from Teri Hood’s Reaching Students Through Successful Education program are the Book Buddies in Patricia Weeks’ first-grade classroom at Creek. The older students listen to the first-graders read. The interaction helps the first-graders with vocabulary, pronunciation and learning to keep their place while they read. They also teach the first-graders how to ask the right questions about the book to improve reading comprehension.
“It is very helpful to have listeners for first grade students that are also capable of helping them with the writing process, reading, AR (Accelerated Reader) tests, etc. And the first graders have the opportunity to have a one-on-one experience listening to someone other than a parent or their teacher read books they have chosen. They form bonds with their book buddies,” Weeks said.
The older students reap benefits from the program as well.
“I found out the first year that when my students began asking questions about the story, they started to realize the things they needed to look for in their own reading time,” Hood said. “They started to infer, put sequences together, foretell and look for hidden messages. My students did better on their own book tests for the second semester.”
The relationship the Book Buddies develop with each other may be just as important as the acquired reading skills. The younger students are excited to see their Book Buddies arrive, which gives the middle school students a sense of self-worth, Hood said.
“The best part of this is to see my students feel good about themselves,” she said. “I know we go to help that little one read, but we get much more out of it than they do. One of my boys was telling a little Book Buddy last year, that he should always find something good about school, stay excited and never give up, even if it’s hard.”
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