Students read and talk...

Rooms 3 and 4 had the most amazing buddy reading session in our first week back to school!

Students took turns reading their story aloud with their buddy. Afterwards we tried a new way of discussing the good points as well as any further thinking by introducing the 'Telephone Conversation'. The tuakana 'phoned up' their teina buddy and told them what they liked about their reading and why. The teina had to reply and said what else they did well. Students used all five Key Competencies (Managing Self, Participating & Contributing, Using Language/Symbols/Text, Relating to Others, Thinking) and the Virtues of Respect and Cooperation by listening and working well with their buddy.

We will keep on using this approach in weeks to come, as it is a fun way to develop oral language.

Some photos...

Reading - a team effort

We had our last Tuakana/Teina reading session for 2017 today. It was also the last session with our awesome Year 6 students who, with the Year 5's, helped the teina when they got stuck and also praised them with their reading. 

Throughout the year, I have been impressed by the way in which everyone listened quietly when their buddy reads and by the way they gave their buddy a chance to use their strategies before offering any help.

Thank you for being our reading buddies Room 3!

Why read alone when you can read with a 'Reading Buddy'?

Our students paired up for our tuakana/teina one-on-one reading in a safe, fun and friendly environment. Our goal is to provide students with extra reading practice and also to provide the tuakana with leadership skills.

Read with a buddy

Our Buddy Reading program (where we buddy up with students from Room 3) is a fun way to help us read better, build resilience, promotes acceptance of others and builds our self esteem. It was great to see how everyone listened quietly to their buddy and how students gave their buddy a chance to use their strategies before offering any help.

Reading aloud to our buddies

During our buddy reading time, students read aloud to each other. This is a fun way to help them to become fluent readers...

Buddy Reading

Everybody wins with our weekly tuakana/teina buddy reading sessions... Students read together in groups of two or more to develop and build fluency, feel a sense of pride in their accomplishments and gain self-esteem. 

Buddy Reading Purpose

Room 4 participates every week in a tuakana/teina buddy reading session with Room 3. 

To ready ourselves for the next couple of weeks, we decided to look again at the purpose of buddy reading and what needs to be focused on. Ideas were brainstormed on what effective buddy reading looks like, sounds like and feels like.

Buddy Reading (Tuakana/Teina)

The junior and senior students are learning to practice kotahitanga by supporting one another in their reading. They make use of De Bono's Yellow and Blue thinking hats to discuss the good points as well as any further thinking.

Our first Buddy Reading

Today was Room 4's first day of Buddy Reading with some of our seniors.

Everyone did a great job of sitting beside their buddy and following the text with their eyes.  When the buddies find a place to sit, they started right away.

I was impressed by the way everyone listened quietly to their buddy and the way they gave their buddy a chance to use their strategies before offering any help.

Buddy Reading with a senior class

One of our favourite things each week is our Buddy reading with Room 3.  They are one of our Year 5/6 classes at school.  This is a fun way to help us read better and we are supporting one another in our reading.
We help when our buddy gets stuck, but most of all we praise our buddy with their reading.

Buddy Reading

Our Buddy Reading promotes a sense of Kotahitanga/Belonging in our school. It helps us to build resilience, promotes acceptance of others and builds our self esteem. It also fosters a sense of fun and enjoyment in our learning.

We enjoy our Buddy Reading sessions with the Room 3 students!