Kindergarten Book Buddies

 

Today's Snack: Since kindergarten is the first year of organized schooling, let's have a snack that has something to do with "firsts." Idea: hard-boiled eggs! Shell them and eat them with just a little salt and some ice water, and discuss at length which came first, the chicken or the egg?

 

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Today's Supplies:

A plastic crate, plastic tub or magazine storage box

Two-pocket folder | 5 or 6 picture books

Laminated chart with handwriting strokes for the alphabet

Stapled booklet made from primary newsprint paper

Two sharpened No. 2 pencils

Deck of word game cards, alphabet flash cards or other game

 

 

 

One of the fondest memories many schoolchildren have is to remember their Book Buddy back when they were in kindergarten.

 

Often, a "much older" pupil - perhaps a third-grader or a fourth-grader - will be assigned to report to the kindergarten once a week, take a kindergartener by the hand, and go out to the hall to read aloud a book to the little one.

 

 An after-school program can have a fun Book Buddies program for kindergarteners matched up with older kids who attend the after-school. It takes very little planning and expense to make a very worthwhile experience.

 

A Book Buddy program is also a great component of a summer program, delivering academic enrichment in a more relaxed atmosphere.

 

A volunteer could make up a Book Buddy Box for each kindergartener, labeled with his or her name, containing the supplies listed above.

 

In the folder should be a form entitled, "Books I Have Read," for the Book Buddy to fill out for the kindergartner as a record of all they've accomplished that school year or summer session; a handwriting guide to make sure the kindergartner is forming letters with the right strokes, and a homemade, stapled notebook for the kindergartner to dictate and, later, write, words and sentences about each book.

 

The two Book Buddies can decide how to use their time, though it will be asked of them that each session, they should spend most of their time actively reading, and a little time writing vocabulary words and sentences about each book that they read.

 

The focus should be on enjoyment, as the older child reads aloud to the younger one earlier in the year. As the kindergartner comes closer and closer to reading, the older child should start to back away and let the younger one read, too - at first, maybe just the first and last sentence of a picture book, and then every other sentence, and finally, near the end of the kindergarten year, they can reverse roles and the older Book Buddy can smile and listen to the younger Buddy read aloud.