Reading buddies making new friends

By Lauren Radomski (Contact) | The Daily Journal

Published Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Thanks to a program called Reading Buddies, Ashby students young and old are making new friends, learning from each other and improving their reading skills one book at a time.

New this school year, Reading Buddies pairs kindergartners with fifth graders and first graders with sixth graders in once-weekly reading sessions. Carol Koefod, librarian and sixth grade reading teacher, said the idea for Reading Buddies emerged from discussions with elementary teachers looking to reinforce literacy skills.

“They just wanted the opportunity for their kids to get a good idea of reading comprehension from books they like, not only their classroom material,” she said.

Each week, younger students are paired with older students to read a book of their choice. The hope, Koefod said, is that by reading a book and discussing components like main idea and setting, students of all ages will get a better grasp of comprehension. First and sixth grade pairs complete quizzes after reading, preparing younger students for similar accelerated reading activities in second grade.

Yet the reading sessions are just as beneficial for older readers, students who’ve been reading for so long that they may have forgotten some of the basics of reading comprehension.

“I was starting to see my sixth graders slip in those areas that they had been working on for a long time,” Koefod said. “I told the kindergartners that they were actually helping the fifth graders become better readers.”

All the students have been on their best behavior, Koefod said, and for their part, the sixth graders have enjoyed playing the role of teacher.

“It has been so positive — and that has been right from the start,” she said.