Southpinellas: Reading made fun with older buddies

Reading made fun with older buddies

First-graders at Largo Central Elementary are writing their own books with help from Largo High students.

By LORRI HELFAND, Times Staff Writer

LARGO -- First-grade teacher Lena Bruce knew she had to do something. A number of her students were struggling with reading and writing.

Then she remembered how thrilled her pupils at Largo Central Elementary were last year when students from Largo High visited to read books that they had written.

If her first-graders could buddy up with Largo High students to write books of their own, it might motivate them to get back on track, she thought.

So Bruce decided to apply for a $1,300 Teach For Excellence Teacher Mini-Grant to fund a project called "Me and My Writing Buddy." The grant covered writing materials, plain hard-bound books and a computer for production and publication.

Every Tuesday and Thursday for the next few weeks, 20 of her first-graders paired up with the 20 Largo High students in Barbara McDivitt's creative writing class to write stories and create illustrated books.

"I knew it would be a chance for learning to take place as well as fun," Bruce said. "They would have someone. They would have a pal that could listen to them so that different types of learning could take place."

McDivitt said the experience benefits the high school students, too.

"You learn best from things that you teach," she said. "Once you have to teach them, you really know it."

Largo Central is a Title 1 school, which means that more than half of the kids receive free or reduced lunches. It also means that the school receives federal funds for teachers, staffers and instructional materials to make sure that all of the students have an equal chance for success.

Kara Merlin, a facilitator for the Title 1 program at Largo Central, prepped the Largo High students for a couple of sessions before they worked one-on-one with the little ones.

"We're really trying to teach the high schoolers how to be a mentor vs. doing the writing themselves," Merlin said.

During each visit, she gives the Largo High students tips on coaching the first-graders before they file into the library to work together.

At 9:20 a.m. Thursday, several of the first-graders eagerly burst through the media center doors to greet their teen buddies and continue work on their rough drafts.

After jotting down a few sentences, 7-year-old Jessica Garbutt leaned her head on the shoulder of her partner, 15-year-old Amanda Farbo, as they looked up the word "protect" in a children's dictionary.

Then Jessica admired her work. "Wow, that's a lot of stuff. It's 20 sentences," she told Farbo.

Farbo said she enjoyed helping her little buddy, remembering that when she was a kid, she struggled to spell certain words, too. "Except we never had anything like this," she said.

Despite the first-graders' creative efforts to distract them, the high school students kept their buddies on task.

Alicia Werthman, 15, asked her 7-year-old partner, Ashley Stotts, about her story.

"If I draw a line, can we play a game?" Ashley replied.

"What else are you going to write about in the body of your story?" Werthman asked, getting her buddy back on track.

At the next table, Samantha Ford, 7, proudly read her story about saving Canada from an evil fisherman to her partner Jennifer Gulick, 16.

"I'm learning patience," Gulick said. "Children are a virtue and if you talk to them right, they listen."

Most of the first-graders enjoy the creative process, but the one-on-one contact with big kids is tops in their book.

"We get to do things with our partners," Samantha said. "Mostly talking with them. It's lots of fun."

At 10 a.m. it was time for the high school students to return to campus. "Happy Valentine's Day," Samantha told her partner a day early as she hugged her goodbye.