READING BUDDIES PROGRAM 

WHAT: The Reading Buddies Program is an award-winning program which has my high school reading students traveling to Glenwood Elementary School to read to kindergarten and first grade students. The Salem students will then spend a portion of their class time each week preparing for their visits to Glenwood. They will select two books from our library of over 100 children's books and prepare two strategies for engaging their reading buddies before reading each book, while reading each book, and after reading each book. They will also work on making games related to the letters or letter combinations their reading buddies are currently studying. The Salem students will travel to Glenwood four times during the year to read their prepared books and to play phonics games with their reading buddies. Salem students are graded on the work they do to prepare for our trips to Glenwood.

WHY: By working as teachers and mentors with these young children, the high school students improve their own oral reading fluency, revisit their phonetic skills, and internalize the pre-, during-, and post-reading comprehension strategies of successful readers. They also establish friendships with the younger children with whom they have a lot of fun. Surveys of older students tell us that many were rarely, if ever, read to during their early years by adult males. Published research has related the lack of male role models to the significantly higher number of older boys who avoid reading and often require remedial reading assistance. All of the older students in the Reading Buddies Program since it began in 2002, especially the boys, said they were confident they could easily keep younger children entertained by reading to them and would make reading to their own future children a priority.

WHEN: We will travel to Glenwood on October 17(A)/18(B), December 12(A)/13(B), February 27(A)/28(B), and April 24(A)/25(B). In addition to the fieldtrip form, there is also a Press Release form for you to sign. Because this is a unique and successful award-winning program, it is possible that members of the school board and attendant media people may observe some of our visits to Glenwood. Students will be permitted to opt out of interviews and pictures as they wish.

HOW: We will use one of Salem 's activity buses to travel between the schools. I am a certified school bus driver, but I will need someone else to act as a chaperone while I drive. If you would like to be a chaperone, you will be able to observe your child participating as a teacher/mentor while we are at Glenwood. Please complete the form below to let me know if you would be willing and able to accompany us on one of our trips to Glenwood. Circle

Click here to view fieldtrip chaperone form