Mepham Students Team Up with Young Reading Buddies

Students from Wellington C. Mepham High School’s Senior Experience Program visited Birch School and Norman J. Levy Lakeside School in the Merrick School District on Nov. 21 to become “reading buddies” for first-grade students.

Prior to the event, seniors in Marc Achtziger’s and Sarah Bender’s Senior Experience classes learned about the importance of promoting literacy in their community.

When the big buddies met their little buddies, the pairs interviewed one another, created a Venn diagram of their similarities and differences, read the little buddy’s favorite book and discussed the interesting parts of the story. Some pairs drew pictures of a character or scene from the stories they read.

The idea behind the Reading Buddies program is to promote a lifelong love of reading. This was the first in what Mepham High School hopes will be a series of visits to the elementary schools. Students will meet periodically throughout the year to develop positive experiences about choosing, reading and discussing age-appropriate books.

This program is also aligned with the Senior Experience Program’s charitable focus: placing books in the hands of young children in Long Island’s communities.

Submitted by Bellmore-Merrick Schools

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