book buddies

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Home : 2004 : September : 29

book buddies
By Lisa

I have been teaming up with a 4-5 teacher for the past three years and doing the same thing. We call it S.U.R.F time. The acronym stands for Sharing Unlimited Reading Fun! Both grade levels LOVE this time. Last year was interesting
because my partner had looped with his fourth grade class from the previous year, so his kids were already familiar with the concept. Things went really smoothly last year. This year we both have a new class so we are introducing buddy reading to both levels.
One thing that we did last year was to write and publish books with our SURF buddies. My class of 1st graders were to

do a research project of an animal of their choice.Each child chose an animal then we all went to the library together and found the proper books. Over the next several visits the older kids used these books to read to the younger ones and finally they collaborated on writing the report, using some guiding questions from me. The book turned out to be amazing and would not have been nearly as good if I had not had the help of the upper grade children! I have come to love SURFing and will miss it next year when my partner moves on to a different school.:-(