(Pictured above: Smiths Falls District Collegiate Institute (SFDCI) student

Paul Sparrow shares a laugh with Chimo Public School reading buddy

Curtis McClatchie and SFDCI student Jessalyn Stoness.  McClatchie and

Sparrow were paired up as part of the Literacy Outreach Project.) 

(Smiths Falls) – Curtis McClatchie grins as he points to the blue, green and pink hearts dancing along the pages of the picture book before him.

He giggles as high school student Paul Sparrow challenges him to find a “giant mess” on another page.

What Curtis doesn’t know is that the game he’s playing with Sparrow is actually helping the 6-year-old build comprehension and literacy skills necessary to be a successful reader.

McClatchie, a kindergarten student at Chimo Elementary School, and Sparrow, a grade 10 student at Smiths Falls District Collegiate Institute (SFDCI), are part of the Literacy Outreach project.  The unique initiative paired students from two grade 10 applied English classes at SFDCI with “reading buddies” from two kindergarten classes at the nearby elementary school.  The program, which will officially conclude with a wrap-up celebration later this month, trained SFDCI students to read to their kindergarten pals using teaching techniques proven to boost literacy.  For their part, high school students discovered what made kindergarten students tick, so they could boost their writing skills by creating picture books young children can enjoy.

The first-term program was introduced in September by grade 10 English teacher Breanna Bedor, then a teacher at SFDCI, and Chimo kindergarten teacher Lydia Smith.

Bedor, who has since been transferred to another school, was seeking ways to engage her English students while teaching them about the use of literary devices.  She wanted a project that would inspire her students to learn by working outside the box – and outside the classroom – while helping the kindergarten children they mentored.

“I felt that they needed an alternative learning environment to be able to grasp the skills that I wanted them to learn,” said Bedor of her students.  “And I wanted something that would not only teach them academic skills but also the types of leadership skills we stress in Character Education – like compassion and empathy.”

Boelsma discussed techniques such as making connections between a child’s life and the story they are being read, asking students to predict what will happen next, doing “picture walks” to familiarize children with the images in a story before reading it to them, and asking questions to ensure they understand what is happening.

The SFDCI students visited their reading buddies in the kindergarten classes once weekly from the beginning of October to the end of November.  They were supplied with books to read that were specially selected for the program by staff at the Smiths Falls Public Library.

The students delved into stories such as Mercer Mayer’s Me Too!, The Biggest Pumpkin Ever by Steve Kroll, and The Wonderful Pigs of Jillian Jiggs by Pheobe Gilman.  After each story, the high school students would re-emphasize the learning from each book by asking their buddies how they personally related to the book, how the story related to the world around them, and how the book related to others they have read. These are literacy techniques known as making “text to self,” “text to world” and “text to text” connections.

During the 40-minute sessions, kindergarten students benefited through an “intensive one-on-one” reading experience that their teacher couldn’t possibly give each one of them on a weekly basis, said Chimo Principal Daryl Kelly.

“While reading is happening every day in our kindergarten classes this was an added bonus to what’s happening as part of our literacy program,” said Kelly.

Following each weekly reading, SFDCI students were required to analyze the book they read using a guide provided by Bedor, said Sparrow.  They were asked to list the literary devices used in each book – such as rhyming, repetition, and metaphor – and to assess how effectively the author used them.

While reading the books, the high school students also gained an understanding of the kinds of stories and topics that young children enjoyed – knowledge they put to good use for their final assignment in the course – writing and illustrating a children’s book designed specifically to appeal to their reading buddy.

Sparrow penned a story called “Speedy in the Junkyard” about a dump truck too insecure about himself to think he could gain a friend.  The truck felt others avoided him because of the way he looked – all dirty and dusty.  However, one day he was surprised to discover he could befriend people who admired him for his speed.

Sparrow wrote the story because his reading buddy, McClatchie, is crazy about trucks.

The project taught Sparrow the need to build stories around a strong theme – in this case the virtue of being yourself – as well as other proven children’s writing techniques such as the use of personification.

While reading has always been a big part of her daily instruction, Smith said the program made story time that much more special for her students.

“My focus as a kindergarten teacher is to instill in my students a love of reading,” said Smith.  “This has really added to that in a different way.”

On the day of the readings, her students would grab their high school buddies by the hand, sleeve or pant leg – whatever they could grasp first – and drag them to a favourite spot chosen especially for the reading.

“Some of my students even went home (afterwards) and were able to tell their parents the story they’d read that day,” said Smith.   “By having an older student read to them it made it that much more engaging.” 

“And my kids learned really, really effectively about the five elements of fiction – setting, character, plot, theme and style – by studying these children’s books,” added Bedor.

The process has also brought students from both schools a little closer together.

“At the start, a lot of the kids weren’t looking forward to it,” said Sparrow of working with kindergarten kids.  “But then they learned that these kids are really kind of cool and funny, and they liked to hang out with them.”

As an added bonus the SFDCI students raised $900 through candle sales that will be used to create hard-cover versions of the stories they penned.  The books will be presented to their reading buddies during a special ceremony at Chimo tentatively planned for the end of February.

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For more information, please call:

Daryl Kelly

Principal

Chimo Elementary School

613-283-1761

Breanna Bedor

English Teacher

Literacy Outreach Program

613-258-3481