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Elijah Craft, a sixth grader at Hazelwood Northwest Middle School, listens and watches as second grader Patrick Faltus of Walker Elementary School reads about desert animals.

Three days a week, students from Walker Elementary School and Hazelwood Northwest Middle School spend time together in a partnership centered on reading.

As reading buddies, sixth, seventh and eighth grade students are paired with second graders in the hopes that the younger students will “gain more confidence in their reading abilities and fluency” and will “improve their grades and love for reading,” said Willicia Hobbs, principal of Hazelwood Northwest Middle School.

Hobbs has a goal of providing as many “teachable opportunities” as possible for her students. With help from school counselors, students are selected who are “great kids” who “could use a boost with their self-esteem” and need to be “in a leadership role.”

Walker Elementary is only a few blocks away from the middle school. On each visit, four middle school students, accompanied by a counselor, walk to the elementary school to listen to a second grader read a book. The older student asks questions about what’s being read, offers positive feedback and critiques and spends time talking to his or her younger buddy.

Eighth grade students visit on Tuesday; seventh graders visit on Wednesday and Thursday is for sixth grade. They meet at the same time, 2:10 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., in the cafeteria and sit at round tables.

Lisa Semanisin, sixth grade counselor, explained the characteristics they looked for to choose a student for the partnership. “The students had to have good grades, they had to want to help, have no discipline issues and be well-rounded, good students.”

Elijah Craft, a sixth grader, is matched with second grader Patrick Faltus.

“I like reading with him,” said Faltus. On this visit, he is reading about reptiles and explained that he learned about “animals that bite and animals that don’t bite” that live in the desert.

Craft said that he likes working with Faltus because “I like reading and working with kids.”
Darian Gregory, a second grader, likes her partner, too. “She helps me with words I don’t know. She’s a good helper.”

Her compliments are for Melissa Birkemeier, a sixth grader who likes being a reading buddy because it’s a “nice break from the day.”

Daisha Lee, her classmate, enjoys “helping kids and reading with them.” Her buddy, Tia Turner, said that Lee is “patient and nice.”

Hobbs said she talked to Dr. Eric Arbetter, principal of Walker Elementary, because of their proximity. She has another group of students in mind to work at Lusher Elementary School.

(story courtesy of Hazelwood District Communications Dept.)

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