Reading Buddies Mentors – Online Session Activities

Please have this document open every session.

Pre-Session: 15 minutes

1. Preparation
a. Ensure your wifi is stable and connected
b. Join Zoom session
c. Open your Buddy’s report and review previous session’s report
d. Download and prepare all necessary materials (documents, games, etc)
e. Have them open and ready for screen sharing
f. Participate in community-building activity prepared by the Coordinators

Reading Session: 45 minutes

2. Greet and connect with your Buddy

a. Ask what their temperature is on a scale of 1 to 10 and talk about a topic your Buddy
shares with you
b. Set the expectations for this session if there were concerns last session
c. Explain the session activities to be done

3. Do Focused Breathing
a. Have your Buddy choose one from the list
b. Do the breathing activity together
c. Alternatively, you may also do the Grounding Activity alongside a breathing exercise
(e.g. Take 3 deep breaths, then do the Grounding Activity)

4. Re-read and discuss familiar book(s)

a. Read each book three times (record in Reading Log and Session Checklist)

5. Introduce and read new book(s)

a. Record the book’s title in Buddy’s report (Reading Log and Session Checklist)
b. Use different reading strategies:
i. Before reading: Make predictions using book covers, review vocabulary, and do
a picture walk
ii. During reading: Check for comprehension
iii. After reading: Evaluate the story (ask about the main idea, sequence of events
and favourite parts and make connections to real life or other stories)

6. Complete Book Folder activities

a. Comprehension questions
b. Discussion cards

7. Practice Vocabulary/Sight Words

a. Create vocabulary flash cards and show your Buddy on screen
i. Flash card generator: Sight Words or Quizlet

Last updated: September 2022

 b. Sight Words flash cards based on each reading level

8. Review a familiar phonics skill

a. Review the new phonics skill taught last session
b. Go to the Phonics Activities folder and choose an activity. Screen share it to your Buddy
and have them annotate on it (or the Mentor can annotate for them)
c. Record the specific skill reviewed on Session Checklist

9. Teach a new phonics skill

a. Use the information from the assessment summary to choose the skill
i. Start at Part 1 Rhyming and choose the skill that the Buddy first got “In
Progress”. Work your way down the list. If the Buddy gets through all the “In
Progress skills, then you can pursue “Beginning” skills
ii. Note: The new skill becomes the review skill once the buddy is nearing the
mastery level
b. Show one phonics video to introduce the skill. Here are the links to the videos that
correspond with each skill as listed in the assessment:

Rhyming video 1, video 2, video 3

Beginning Sounds
Final Sounds
Phoneme Blending and Segmenting
Upper case names video 1, video 2, video 3
Lower case names video 1, video 2, video 3
Consonant sounds
Vowel sounds video 1, video 2, video 3
Short vowel word families: -ad, -am, -an, -ap, -at, -ed, -en, -et, -ig, -in, -it, -un
Short vowels in words
Consonant blends
Final ‘e’
Double vowels video 1, video 2
Consonant digraphs
R-controlled vowels video 1, video 2
Diphthongs video 1, video 2
Suffixes
Prefixes
Silent Letters video 1, video 2, video 3

c. Go to the Phonics Activities folder and choose an activity that matches the skill in the
video. Screen share it to your Buddy and have them annotate on it (or the Mentor can
annotate for them)
d. Record the specific skill taught on Session Checklist

10. Brain Breaks are encouraged midway through your session or when needed

11. Close session

a. Thank your Buddy for spending time with you and focusing on reading skills

Last updated: September 2022

 b. Review what you have done together
c. Let your Buddy know you will see them next time
d. Ask to speak to their parent or guardian
i. Update them on Buddy’s progress
ii. Provide a compliment about the Buddy’s work
iii. Let them know when you will see their child again

Huddle: 15 minutes

12. Participate in group huddle

a. Complete session report (5 minutes)
b. As a group, reflect on:
i. What went well?
ii. What didn’t go well?
iii. What could be changed or adapted?

Last updated: September 2022