Book Buddies!

Fostering Community Within the School

with Shared Reading
By Lindsey Johnson

Context of the Classroom

Currently in a first grade classroom in Coastal Virginia
Students have varying degrees of skill level and interest within
the classroom, as well as differing behaviors
Students have varying interests regarding reading materials
within the class
As a whole, students are mostly interested in fiction stories, but
are also interested in relevant non-fiction books and books
involving animals (fiction or non-fiction)
Students enjoy being read aloud to immensely in this classroom

What Means of Reading Instruction

Are Already in Place?
Students are split into four groups based on reading skill
Each group is introduced to new words every week for word
study, as well as new reads (texts that they have not yet been
introduced to) two to three times a week
Each group also re-reads their old reads (books they have
previously read together, to practice fluency)
Students are also instructed on reading concepts in whole-group
Students are read-aloud to almost every day

What Are Book Buddies?

Book Buddies or Reading Buddies typically occur when each student is

paired with a buddy to read with

Often, this occurs with older and younger students (as in, a younger student is
paired with an older buddy)
The Book Buddies are grouped together consistently so as to establish a bond
between the two students
In many classrooms, the peers will switch-off who picks a book out/who reads
for the meeting (younger student picks out a book the first time, then next time
its the older students responsibility)
The students can use books of their choosing or books focused on a theme that
classrooms are learning about (such as fairy tales or non-fiction)

Why Did I Choose Book Buddies for

My Own Classroom?
The students in my classroom have already demonstrated immense
engagement when someone is reading aloud to them
Occasionally, the cooperating teacher has guest readers come read
to the children, and students become even more enthusiastic when
someone new is reading to them (this can be another student in the
school or a parent volunteer)
Since not all students have complete engagement during reading
groups or whole-group reading instruction, I thought Book Buddies
would be a great way to foster this interest of reading in such a young
grade while also hoping to develop mentors for the students

How Did I Get Started?

First, I brought up the idea to my cooperating teacher (who expressed
interest as she has previously used Book Buddies in her classroom years
ago and really enjoys the idea)
My cooperating teacher suggested a specific class (fourth grade) in mind
to partner withwe both discussed the idea with this teacher for mutual
agreement
We also decided to add follow-up activities to add more relevancy to the
Book Buddies experience (such as writing about the experience in their
journals or answering questions within partnerships based on their books)
We then had to think of how to pair the Book Buddies!

How Did We Pair the Book

Buddies?
We started with writing down each child in the class, for both classes
We then mapped out the reading levels of all the students in each classes, to help us pair the
students. We also discussed the interest level of each student when it comes to reading
We tried our best to pair students who were on similar reading levels in the two different grades or
students who had similar interests in reading materials (since the first grade group was larger,
there were a few groups of three; the same idea of reading/interest levels for the tri-ads were still
maintained)
We decided that we would let students pick their own books each time the meeting occurred (this
helped to maintain engagement)
Sometimes the younger students would read to the older students (to maintain a sense of
confidence while reading, especially for the lower-level students), and sometimes the older
students read to the younger students (to help maintain that feeling of mentorship). Afterwards, the
students could ask questions or explained why they liked the book between each other and could
write about the experience in their writing journals.

What are the Benefits of Having

Book Buddies in the Classroom?
Reinforces the idea that reading books is more than just identifying words

(Theurer & Schmidt, 2008, p. 263)

The older reading buddies can become somewhat of a mentor or tutor to the
younger students (Theurer & Schmidt, 2008)
Reading buddies can instill confidence in the students by allowing them to take
responsibility for choosing their own books to read to their buddy (Kemp, 1990)
Allows for one-to-one attention for the students (Kemp, 1990)
To provide an atmosphere where children would find reading pleasurable and
thereby come to love to read and helps to develop positive social
skills(Kreuger & Braun, 1998, p. 410)

Would I Do This Again? Yes!

I would absolutely love to incorporate book buddies into
my own classroom one day.
Seeing the bonds that form between different groups of
students within the school is worthwhile.
Anything to help students develop enthusiasm for reading
is what Id like to implement.

References
Kemp, J. (1990). In the classroom: Reading buddies. The
Reading Teacher, 44(4),
356.
Kreuger, E., & Braun, B. (1998). Books and buddies: Peers
tutoring peers.
The Reading Teacher, 52(4), 410414.
Theurer, J. L., & Schmidt, K. B. (2008). Coaching reading
buddies for
success. The Reading Teacher
62(3), 261-264.