No One to Listen

One of my favorite images of children is watching them snuggle up to a parent and listen to a good story.  My wife and I enjoy this evening activity with our son on a nightly basis.  The hope is that by establishing this routine now, he will be more likely to develop into an independent reader once he gets a bit older.  This seems like something that every parent should be doing with their child.  As a librarian it just makes sense.  Yet for so many of my students (and probably yours too) this isn't the case. The reasons are varied and exploring them is far beyond the scope of this blog post.

I recently ran across an idea that I really liked which might address this problem.  One librarian mentioned that she had noticed this problem with her students and so she had sought to address the issue by providing her third grade students with an unconventional reading buddy.  She was able to acquire through various means, a collection of stuffed animals.  Students were then given the option to select a stuffed animal "reading buddy," take it home, read to it, and then keep the librarian updated on how it was going.  There were of course expectations and rules associated with the taking the stuffed animal home and these were gone over with the student. Students were made to understand that this was their buddy and they were responsible for its care and maintenance while it was in their possession, much like a real pet.

I don't recall whether the student was expected to keep track of the actual reading or to journal about it or not. I will need to go back and reach out to the librarian to find out specifics.  I do remember that she followed up with the teachers of the students who were involved in the project and tried to monitor their growth in reading.  This is taking an idea into the realm of action research.  Her findings were that the majority of the students did indeed show growth.  None of the students regressed.  It got me thinking.

This year, there are going to be a few new ideas that I experiment with in the library.  One of them will be stuffed animal reading buddies.  I'll probably start with one grade level but if the program is successful why not expand it?  Kids need to be shown that they are cared about and that they can be trusted to care for others.  What better way to establish empathy than to given them a "friend" to share a book with.  Just something to think about.