Beyond+Buddy+Reading+Program

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I've attached some of the templates and goals/strategies below that I have used with the Grade 5's and 1/2's for our Beyond Buddy Reading Program. Everything I've done is based on the Glen View P.S model. I've just changed a few things to suit the children at my school and I'm sure once you've had a look you'll change it again to suit your own school too.======

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I found some great stuff after Day 5 on their website, which is honestly a lot better than what I've created. I would attach it below aswell but I'm not sure if I'm allowed just yet. I'll ask Maureen and let you know. They've created a yearly implementation plan and have 10 sequential lesson plans so well worth having look if you get the chance. Click on Day 4 Resources and there's a link called Cross Grade Learner Conversations.======

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When I first introduced the program at my school, we began slowly. I shared what I had read after Day 1 of our training with the Grade 5 teachers and the other grade 1 teacher. We decided that we had to start slowly and introduce a strategy and skill each fortnight (Term 1 and 2 we did Beyond Buddy Reading fortnightly and now we do it weekly for 1/2 an hour). To be honest at first I was very much like a bull out of a gate and probably bombarded the students and teachers with too much information. That is why we decided we needed to start slowly.======

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Initially we introduced the students to a discussion about the title, author, illustrator, then doing a picture walk and making predictions. The next week we introduced them to the decoding strategies which I got from Aileen Mason from Wallarano P.S (Thanks Aileen). The following week we discussed asking good questions before, during and after reading. We talked about who, what, where, when and especially why questions. Then after that we introduced the students to each goal a fortnight. We chose the goal initially until they were all introduced. Each student and buddy has their own folder that contains the decoding strategies and their goals. There's also a copy of the document What you need to know to be a good buddy reader and the Reading to my Buddy Doc.======

After some discussion with the Grade 1/2's and 5's they decided we needed the pictures that matched each goal and that we needed a poster in each classroom so that they could be reminded of the goals all the time. The grade 5's also asked for more support about what a good buddy reading lesson looked liked and how to highlight a goal, that's why I quickly created that video. I haven't uploaded it because I didn't video them doing the before reading stuff because we decided they were proficient in that area. I only videoed (not sure if that's a word) them choosing a goal, reading the book using their strategies, asking a couple of questions and discussing what goal they will work on next time. I'll make another video when I go back to school after Day 6 and 7 and then I'll upload that for everyone.

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I really do hope this helps anyone keen to start the program. It really is a fantastic program that gets all students thinking about their reading. Its really wonderful to see the Grade 5's coaching the grade 1's and 2's and its so funny to hear them saying the same sort of things that we say all the time. Little mini teachers....haha... I know my grade 1's and 2's really look forward to it each week too. For a program that only runs for 1/2 an hr a week, I think the kids get alot out of it.======

Dana
[|goal 1.doc], [|goal 2.doc], [|goal 3.doc], [|goal 4.doc] Introduced each goal fortnightly [|Goals and strategies poster.doc] [|Reading Decoding Strategies.pdf] (From Aileen Mason) [|Reading to my buddy.doc] Good assessment tool - find out what the grade 1's and 2's can do, help guide the grade 5's coaching/teaching [|What you need to know to be a good buddy reader.doc] Reminders for the grade 5's, what they should be doing before reading, during reading and after reading [|What we need to do.doc] I shared this with my team when I first initially went to them with the idea. Just some thoughts and things we needed to do, nothing fantastic [|Criteria for Grade 1 and 2 original goals.doc] Glenview's Goals - I didn't include all of their dots points for each of our goals some of it seemed a bit beyond our kids