Passing Along Reading Skills: York County Fourth-Graders Help Fill Little Minds With Lots of Words.

By Cathy Grimes, Daily Press, Newport News, Va.

Mar. 19–YORK — Grafton-Bethel Elementary School’s library hummed with young voices.

At tables scattered around the room, fourth-graders huddled with kindergartners and preschoolers, coloring pictures and making cartoonish spiders from thumbprints.

On the steps of the reading alcove, Krystan Stokes, 9, and Logan Machen, 5, were oblivious to the bustle.

Stokes’ voice was low and clear as she read the picture book they held. Machen listened closely while looking at the brightly colored illustrations.

Stokes, who likes to read to her younger siblings, said she is an old hand at reading to younger listeners.

But this was the first opportunity for many fourth-graders in the room to be the expert reader, sharing the world of words with younger children.

That’s one of the aims of York County school system’s 45 Million Words campaign.

The name stems from research showing that children from middle- and upper-income households are exposed to about 45 million words by the time they reach kindergarten.

Children from lower-income households and those families receiving welfare hear about 15 million words during the same period.

The program’s goal is to expose young children to as much language and literature as possible, said organizer and fourth-grade teacher Carol Bauer.

“The idea is to have all children ready to learn,” Bauer said, adding that the program’s aim of language exposure ideally should include infants and toddlers as well.

Grafton-Bethel is one of four York County elementary schools in the program, but Bauer said the goal is to involve all of the county’s schools.

The York Education Association provided a $10,000 grant to launch the program based on concerns about getting more books into children’s homes.

Just having books in the home isn’t enough, Bauer said. Someone has to be willing to read.

That’s where Grafton-Bethel’s fourth-graders come in. They are part of Grafton-Bethel’s Story Stars program, which teaches them to read picture books aloud.

One of their assignments is to go home and read to a sibling, a younger friend, even a parent or adult.

The fourth-graders also work with Grafton-Bethel kindergartners and the preschool students in Head Start, a federally funded program.

The recent reading buddies event in the school library was one of several opportunities for fourth-graders to practice their read-aloud skills.

“Even reluctant readers love the assignment,” she said. “They get to go home and be a star.”

Fourth-grader Dillon Wilbert, who paired up with kindergartner Mark Petko at the library reading event, agreed with Bauer.

He said he enjoyed reading to Petko and helping him navigate a computer program of early reading activities.

Bauer said one of the goals is to teach students that “anyone can read to anyone” and to recognize the pleasure of reading aloud.

“The idea of 45 Million Words is interactivity,” she said. “You don’t have to have training. It’s a thing anyone can do.”

Read-aloud assignments also include parents, she said, and their reactions have been eye-opening.

“I’ve had some who were reluctant,” she said.

“They figured once the kids could read, they had to do all the reading. And I’ve had some parents who cannot read.”

A parent’s reluctance or inability to read to a child is not a roadblock, she said.

“They can talk together, tell stories, share rhymes, the silly things you do with your kids,” she said, adding that all of those activities expand a child’s vocabulary.

She said teachers hope to follow students involved in 45 Million Word activities to see whether preschoolers who participate in reading and story activities have better literacy skills when they enter kindergarten.

But for fourth-graders like Wilbert, the reading events are a chance to have fun and to share.

“We get to read to our preschool buddies,” he said.

“They get to know a little more about us. And we get to learn about them.”

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Copyright (c) 2007, Daily Press, Newport News, Va.

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