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WHAT: BOOK BUDDIES

In order to create a new resource for the students at Great Falls
Elementary, I teamed up with a fifth grade class to start a book
buddies program. My students are in 1st and 2nd grade, so they
are still learning reading skills such as fluency, comprehension
and accuracy in order to become voracious readers. I decided to
pair the 2nd graders with a book buddy in the 5th grade class.

WHY: MENTORSHIP
I noticed that there wasnt much interaction between the upper
and lower grades and how much the school could benefit from
creating this relationship. There were advantages for both grades,
with the 2nd graders getting the chance to work on their fluency in
reading, and emphasizing the importance of being a good role
model to the 5th graders. I met with the fifth grade student teacher
to talk about students personalities and interests in order to make
the best possible matches.

HOW: MEET-UPS
Each week we alternated between having the 2nd graders pick
books to read to the 5th graders and vice-versa. The buddies
met twice a week for twenty minutes. My students would get
ready for their mentee to come by finding a comfortable spot in
the classroom. As soon as their buddy walked in, they would sit
down and begin reading right away.

BENEFITS OF BOOK BUDDIES:

COMPREHENSION AND VOCABULARY
Research shows that there are many advantages to
implementing book buddy programs into the classroom. For
the younger partner, benefits include improvements in
vocabulary and reading comprehension. According to an
article published by PBS kids, several research studies
have found that augmenting traditional classroom
instruction with one-on-one interventions, such as a reading
buddies program, is a powerful combination that can
accelerate students oral vocabulary gains (Kalkowski
1995) (Cooke & Youn 2009).

BENEFITS: SOCIAL SKILLS

In addition to the proven enhances in reading skills for the
younger buddy, both students learn social skills from the
mentorship. A research project completed by a kindergarten
and seventh grade teacher found that, Aside from the
academic focus, the partnership accentuates the development
of social skills between the two students. At times, we felt that
the students were more responsive to the reinforcement and
feedback provided by their buddies than they were to that
provided by the teacher (Dust & Tiessen 2008). In an article
retrieved from educationworld.com, Book Buddies programs
enhances childrens cooperative learning behaviors such as
taking turns, listening, sharing knowledge, praising others
efforts, helping one another, and completing a task (Davies
2008).

BENEFITS: RESPONSIBILITY
The older buddy benefits from acting as the teacher or mentee
figure because they learn to take on role-model characteristics.
As the older students assume the role of teacher, they are
motivated to do their best. They experience pride in their
ability to be helpful(Davies 2008). The kindergarten and
seventh grade teacher showed similar findings that, having a
reading buddy program utilizes the skills of the older students
to take on the role of classroom educational associates and
parent volunteers. Having students play this role not only
benefits the younger students, but it greatly affects the older
students learning as well (Dust & Tiessen 2006).

SUCCESS OF BOOK BUDDIES

The mentorship was a huge success. My 2nd graders expressed
their enthusiasm after the first meeting, and thereafter asked
everyday if they were getting to meet with their buddy. The
fifth graders even brought valentines for their buddies on
valentines day. Both grades permanent teachers are planning
on continuing the buddy program after our student teaching
block ends.

WORKS CITED
Cooke, J., & Youn, W. (2009, September 1). USING READING
BUDDIES TO DEVELOP AND ENHANCE CHILDRENS
VOCABULARY. Retrieved February 20, 2015, from http://
pbskids.org/marthaspeaks
Davies, L. (2008, August 18). Buddy Programs for Elementary
Schools. Retrieved February 20, 2015, from
http://www.educationworld.com/
Dust, D., & Tiessen, J. (2006). Why Use a Reading Buddy
Program? In Building Literacy Skills Through Reading
Buddies. Saskatoon, CA: McDowell Foundation.