Real Stories
From Real
Classrooms
Hilary Jo Seitz
and Carol
Bartholomew
Grades 2 and 3
Reading Together: Primary Grade
Children Connect With Preschoolers
“You can turn the page now.”
“Okay. I think it’s gonna be Biscuit’s birthday.”
—8-Year-Old Kaya Reading to 3-Year-Old Chloe
C
Photos courtesy of
Hilary Jo Seitz except where noted.
22
hildren learn and build
confidence as they interact and
converse with more knowledgeable peers in a comfortable
environment. Lev Vygotsky (1978)
theorized that children use their language experiences to become aware of their own thinking
so they can link their ideas to the ideas of others,
which serves to expand their thoughts and
learning. When second- and third-graders have
opportunities to buddy read with preschoolers,
children in both age groups feel more successful
about their reading abilities. The older children’s
reading fluency improves and their attitudes
about reading grow more positive. In addition,
these children feel more confident in themselves
as readers and learners, particularly when learning is presented in fun and meaningful ways.
Young children may encounter many hurdles
when they are learning to read. For example,
some children are easily frustrated when they
don’t know a letter combination sound or what
a word means. Having enjoyable and positive
reading opportunities helps support the process.
Children need to master specific phonetic skills,
incorporate previous letter and word knowledge,
use vocabulary, and connect the meaning of
thoughts and ideas (Bennett-Armistead, Duke, &
Moses 2005; Pikulski & Chard 2005; Hasbrouck
2006; Morrow & Schickedanz 2006). Children
can best master these skills when they have
positive experiences—those that are fun and
meaningful—and appropriate motivation. A multiage reading opportunity such as buddy reading
enhances the learning-to-read process for both
the younger and older child.
www.naeyc.org/yc n Young Children
March 2014
The buddy-reading project
Carol, a primary grade teacher at Polaris K–12 Optional
School in Anchorage, Alaska, was looking for ways to
engage the children in positive experiences that would
encourage reading skills, such as fluency, as well as promote
enjoyment in reading. The school district in which Carol
works adopted a curriculum program to support the essential elements of reading—phonemic awareness, phonics,
fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension, as outlined by the
Common Core State Standards (NGA & CCSSO 2010). In
addition, the school’s mission promotes an environment
that challenges students, teachers, and parents to personal
excellence, lifelong learning, and ethical responsibility to
self, community, and the world (Polaris 2012).
Carol wanted the second and third grade children to
have a service-learning opportunity that would augment
their reading skills while promoting the school’s literacy
program and mission. She contacted families, local child
care centers and preschool programs, and university faculty
for advice and support. Carol, a school administrator, and
a university faculty advisor (Hilary) decided that the older
children would visit the preschool children at Tanaina
Child Development Center on the University of Alaska
Anchorage campus one morning a month, bringing books to
share and read with the younger children. This was a natural collaboration because both the school and the child care
center already work closely with faculty, staff, and students
from the university’s early childhood program.
There were 25 children in the second and third grade
multiage classroom and 30 preschool children at the child
care center. Each preschooler was paired with an older
child. In a few of the matches, there were two preschool
children with one older child. Teachers at both sites reviewed the pairings before the children met to make sure
they would be a good fit. In most cases, girls were paired
with girls and boys with boys.
The child care center provided monthly family-style
meals for the children, families, and teachers who participated. Many of the second- and third-graders’ families
joined the meal after driving and chaperoning the children
from the Polaris school to the Tanaina Center. Several of
the younger children’s families also joined the meals.
About the Authors
Hilary Jo Seitz, PhD, is an associate dean in the College of Education at the University of Alaska Anchorage. She is also a professor
in the Early Childhood Department. Hilary researches early literacy
in preschool and primary grades and culturally responsive teaching practices. [email protected]
Carol Bartholomew, MA, is the principal at Polaris K–12 Optional
School in Anchorage. She was the second/third grade teacher
during the time of this project. [email protected]
March 2014
Young Children n www.naeyc.org/yc
The Children’s Favorite Books
n Amelia Bedelia, by Peggy Parish, illus. by Fritz Seibel
n Biscuit’s Birthday, by Allysa Satin Capucilli, illus. by
Pat Schories
n Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, by Bill Martin Jr. and
John Archambault
n Clifford, the Big Red Dog, by Norman Bridwell
n Corduroy, by Don Freeman
n Curious George, by Hans Augusto Rey
n David Goes to School, by David Shannon
n Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, by Mo Willems
n Heckedy Peg, by Audrey Wood, illus. by Don Wood
n I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly, by Glen
Rounds, illus. by Pam Adams
n If You Give a Moose a Muffin, by Laura Numeroff, illus.
by Felicia Bond
n Ladybug Girl, by David Soman and Jacky Davis
n Swimmy, by Leo Lionni
n The Jacket I Wear in the Snow, by Shirley Neitzel,
illus. by Nancy Winslow Parker
n The Paper Bag Princess, by Robert Munsch, illus. by
Michael Martchenko
n The Three Snow Bears, by Jan Brett
n We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, by Michael Rosen and
Helen Oxenbury
n Where the Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak
The school-age children selected appropriate books to
read to the preschoolers. They also decided to bring followup activities connected to some of the stories to build on the
book-reading experience. They chose activities like making
paper collages similar to those in Eric Carle’s book illustrations and molding playdough to make a story’s characters.
For example, after reading Swimmy together, the children
Authors’ Note
We would like to thank the children, staff, and families of Tanaina
Child Development Center for hosting 25 second and third grade
children and their families. We also thank the Polaris families who
drove the children to the Tanaina Child Development Center, and
the student interns from University of Alaska Anchorage who
helped support the project.
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Regular literacy instruction continued,
but the buddy reading enhanced the
children’s skills.
Carol and Hilary observed and documented a variety of
positive literacy behaviors in the primary school children
while preparing for and during the buddy-reading experiences at the center over the year. The children were excited
about finding the right book and anticipated field trips to the
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center. Even reluctant readers improved their oral reading.
In addition, the older readers achieved greater fluency and
experienced empathy for the preschool children.
Carol administered required literacy assessments before
and after the project and noticed gains in fluency rates as
well as more positive attitudes about reading aloud. At the
end of the year, Carol and Hilary interviewed the second
and third grade children to learn their thoughts and decide
whether the buddy-reading project should be continued next
year. Overwhelmingly, the children said “Yes!”
Fluency connections
The National Reading Panel (Armbruster, Lehr, & Osborn
2010) defines fluency as the ability to read a text accurately
and quickly. Fluent readers read out loud effortlessly and
with expression, as if they are speaking. Fluency bridges the
gap from word recognition to comprehension. When readers
do not need to focus their energy on recognizing a word,
they can make comprehension connections much more
quickly.
According to the end-of-year reading assessments, the
second- and third-graders’ fluency greatly improved, based
on comparisons from previous years and on their growth
during the year. Buddy reading helped support the children—as they repeated passages of text with the preschoolers, they became more familiar with the words and the
www.naeyc.org/yc n Young Children
March 2014
© Ellen B. Senisi
made sponge paintings that resembled the artwork in the
book, written and illustrated by Leo Lionni.
Before going to the preschool, Roxanne, an early childhood intern from the university, and Hilary worked with
the second- and third-graders to think about books the
preschoolers would enjoy. (See “The Children’s Favorite
Books,” p. 23, for those they suggested and read.) They
discussed with the children how to use different voice tones
and expressions to engage the preschoolers during the readalouds and ways to read and hold a book so a younger child
could see the pictures. They talked about comfy spaces, such
as a beanbag chair or pillow, or a corner on the floor to make
the experience more personal. They practiced reading their
books in their classroom. When the second- and third-graders
finally met the preschoolers, they were eager and prepared
to read and interact with their new reading buddies.
structure of books. They were able to process words in
meaningful chunks, thus improving their fluency. Greater
fluency led to more ease and enjoyment of reading.
Comprehension connections
To prepare for the buddy reading, the older children
selected books that were appropriate for preschoolers and
were at their own independent reading level. They practiced reading these books daily during independent reading
time. Children did not have to concentrate on decoding
(applying their knowledge of letter–sound relationships to
correctly pronounce written words) and were able to focus
their attention on text meaning.
The focus on comprehension allowed children to make
connections and have a deeper understanding of the content
they were reading. They used this knowledge to develop
guiding questions to ask as they worked with their preschool buddies. For example, Rylan used his knowledge of
the characters in a story to help his partner, Suzie, make
a paper bag puppet. Rylan’s questions (“Who was your
favorite animal in the story?” “Why do you like the bear
best?” “What did the bear like to do?”) helped guide Suzie to
decide which character to make and what it would be doing.
Children’s comprehension skills improved on literacy
assessments, including informal assessments, such as oneon-one conferencing, and the formal assessments that were
given several times throughout the year. Regular literacy
instruction continued, but the buddy reading enhanced the
children’s skills. Carol noted these comprehension- and
fluency-rate findings in the literacy assessments (end-ofyear reading assessments and running records) used in the
classroom.
Expressive reading connections
Children showed growth in their ability to read with
expression, add voice, and prosody (rhythm, stress, and
intonation of speech), based on teacher and faculty member
observations of the buddy-reading experiences. Children,
particularly those struggling with reading, showed growth
in their ability to read with expression. They became
mindful of sentence structure, including when to change
emphasis and tone.
Carol offered activities to help the children to focus on
rhythm, which they took part in and practiced before their
visits to the preschoolers. For example, Diego practiced
reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear several times. Carol
encouraged a chant-like style to show the words’ rhythms
in Diego’s oral reading by tapping her hands and legs.
When Diego arrived at the center, he gave the book to his
buddy, Josh, and showed him how to tap his hands and legs
together, finding a rhythm. As Diego read the story aloud,
Josh continued to keep the beat.
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Starting a Buddy-Reading Program
S
tarting such a program is easy, with a little planning. Use the following questions to begin your
own program.
n Why do we want a buddy-reading program?
n Will the school and families support it? How will we
communicate with families about the program and
children’s progress? How will we involve families?
n Is there an accessible local preschool, child care
program, or elementary school that we could partner
with? Is the program willing to partner? Willing to
host some of the sessions? What are the spaces like?
n How will we support dual language learners?
n How will we transport the children?
n How will we plan the experiences with our partner
group?
n How will we match the children in pairs?
n How will we prepare the children?
n Will we interview, observe, or assess the children’s
skills and behaviors (literacy, social, emotional)? What
will we do with this information (create portfolios,
newsletters, websites)?
Reflective thinking
The interviews and children’s and teachers’ comments
were enlightening. The most revealing observation Carol
made was that the struggling readers in the second and
third grade classroom changed their attitudes about reading. As a result of the buddy-reading project, they felt more
confident in their reading, and their literacy skills greatly
improved. The children expressed their thoughts about
their own reading behaviors in interviews.
Sydney, a third-grader, wrote, “I learned to add lots and lots of
voices and [make my] reading sound more like talking.”
Children gave specific examples of what they liked about
reading with the preschoolers.
Abbigale, a second-grader, said, “You have to come with lots
of energy, but it is fun! I like to read to my buddy. She is cute
and likes to sit in my lap.”
During independent learning times at Polaris K–12, second and third grade children frequently self-selected books
that they were familiar with. This behavior was noted in
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struggling readers even during open-choice time, when the
children had free choice of materials, not just books.
Empathy and compassion
In addition to seeing increased beneficial reading behaviors, Hilary and Carol noted that the older children (particularly boys) showed more empathy and compassion for the
preschoolers than the two had seen in similar situations in
the second and third grade classroom. They saw some older
boys helping their 3-year-old buddies zip up their jackets
or put on snow gear. Many boys had smiles on their faces
when their younger buddies gave them hugs on arrival—
and they hugged back. This was particularly heartwarming
for these older boys’ families to learn about.
The center teachers mentioned that the preschoolers
showed a greater interest in reading books independently
after the school-age children came to visit, particularly the
books that had been read to them. The younger children
looked up to the older ones and asked them for help and
guidance. Several families commented on how much
their preschooler looked forward to their buddy coming
to school. This anecdotal information was passed on to
Tanaina’s advisory board of directors to let them know how
important the buddy-reading program was for the preschool children.
Children from the school-age classroom, as well as
their families, were excited about participating in the
service learning. They were expected to be at the center
on a regular basis, and they had to work hard and practice
reading to be successful. Research shows that children who
participate in service-learning opportunities in elementary
school perform better and display more positive behaviors
and dispositions at school (Lake & Jones 2012).
Conclusion
Buddy reading with older and younger children is a great
way for children to have positive and successful reading experiences. The preschoolers and second- and third-graders
enjoyed and looked forward to the buddy-reading time at
the child care center. The older children enjoyed the experience of repeated oral readings with familiar texts—books
they felt confident reading.
Practicing their reading and having a motivating
purpose for reading greatly enhanced the older children’s
reading fluency and comprehension skills. They improved
their own reading and modeled positive reading behaviors,
supporting the preschoolers’ love of reading and stories.
All the children enjoyed the reading experience and looked
forward to spending time with their “special person.”
Children displayed positive social behaviors, such as hugging, smiling, helping others, conversing joyfully about the
stories, and respecting others. The older children particularly enjoyed the family-style meals and have adopted a
www.naeyc.org/yc n Young Children
March 2014
family meal potluck once a month at their school. Overall,
the experience was positive for all the children. Because of
its success, the school and center have continued the buddyreading program.
Third-grader Marc stated, “They [preschoolers] like reading
books more than once and so do I.”
Morrow, L.M., & J.A. Schickedanz. 2006. “The Relationships Between
Sociodramatic Play and Literacy Development.” Vol. 2 of Handbook
of Early Literacy Research, eds. D. Dickinson & S. Neuman, 269–80.
New York: Guilford.
NGA (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices) & CCSSO (Council of Chief State School Officers). 2010. “Common Core
State Standards—English Language Arts.” Washington, DC: NGA &
CCSSO. www.corestandards.org/the-standards.
Pikulski, J.J., & D.J. Chard. 2005. “Fluency: Bridge Between Decoding
and Reading Comprehension.” The Reading Teacher 58 (6): 510–19.
Polaris (Polaris K–12 School). 2012. “Polaris Mission Statement.” www.
polarisk-12.org/community-discussion-belief-statements.html.
References
Armbruster, B.B., F. Lehr, & J. Osborn. 2010. Put Reading First: The
Research Building Blocks for Teaching Children to Read, Kindergarten
Through Grade 3. 3rd ed. Jessup, MD: National Institute for Literacy.
http://lincs.ed.gov/publications/pdf/PRFbooklet.pdf.
Vygotsky, L.S. 1978. Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes, eds. M. Cole, V. John-Steiner, S. Scribner, & E.
Souberman. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Bennett-Armistead, V.S., N.K. Duke, & A.M. Moses. 2005. Literacy and
the Youngest Learner: Best Practices for Educators of Children From
Birth to 5. New York: Scholastic.
Hasbrouck, J. 2006. “Drop Everything and Read—But How? For Students Who Are Not Yet Fluent, Silent Reading Is Not the Best Use of
Classroom Time.” American Educator 30 (2): 22–31.
Lake, V.E., & I. Jones. 2012. Service Learning in the PreK–3 Classroom:
The What, Why, and How-to Guide for Every Teacher. Minneapolis,
MN: Free Spirit.
March 2014
Young Children n www.naeyc.org/yc
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