Big buddies helping little buddies read

SPRINGVILLE — New partnerships have been formed at a Utah County school, ones that do not involve businesses or government or special interest groups.

They're partnerships in the simplest forms — big kids partnering with little kids to help them read better. They prefer the term "buddies," and they call the before-school reading program the Art City Eagle Reading Club.

Twenty-two students in the first through third grades pair up with 31 fifth-graders for about 30 minutes each morning four days a week to read together.

Amber Ostler, a Nebo District literacy specialist, said she noticed several students ate breakfast at Art City Elementary.

Afterward, they were seen hanging out in halls before classes started. So she decided to round them up and pair them with students who needed a little extra reading help understanding books about space exploration or even Clifford The Big Red Dog.

For reading tutors, she asked fifth-graders, the oldest students in the school, to volunteer.

"I had way more fifth-graders willing to do it" than first-, second- and third-graders, she said.

Parents students signed consent forms and eager fifth-graders attended a weeklong "how to be a tutor" training in January.

At the cross-age tutoring training, the big kids learned to prompt their buddies when they were stuck on a word. The bunch also was taught how to predict the next part of the story, how to discuss the book when they're done.

The younger students have been assigned one or two fifth-grade helpers. They begin each morning by selecting two books at an appropriate reading level. One book goes home with the younger students. The fifth-graders give their buddies stickers if they return the following morning with the book and a signed form stating the parents read it with the child.

Educators say the school's club provides extra reading help to younger children. Fifth-graders see improvement, too.

"When they see someone struggle, they can think about, 'What am I doing? Do I do that? Do I make predictions?' " Ostler said. "So a lot of these fifth-graders are learning as much as the first- and second-graders."

Fifth-graders had different reasons for participating in the club.

For Hailey Johnson, it is a chance to become friends with a younger student. "I have an older sister," she said. "I always wanted a little brother or sister."