Something really cool is happening in classrooms at Oak Leaf Elementary School these days. Older students are stepping up and leading by example, proving to everyone that life is better with books.

On this episode of the Supercast, meet some sixth-graders who are taking their love for literacy to the kindergarten classroom. They are reading to younger kids as part of the Planet Kindergarten literacy program.

Audio Transcription

Jennifer Ballard:
I've taught for 12 or 13 years now and this has been the biggest breakthrough with kids' reading.

Student:
I like at the end when they feel so like accomplished of finishing a book or something.

Jennifer Ballard:
The kids all take care of each other better. They look out for each other.

Student:
And I love to see how much they improve throughout the year.

Student:
Sometimes when they're like with a friend, they like point at you and say, "Oh my gosh I know him!"

[music]

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. Something really cool is happening in classrooms at Oak Leaf Elementary School these days. Older students are stepping up and leading by example, proving to everyone that life is better with books. On this episode of the Supercast, meet some sixth graders who are taking their love for literacy to the kindergarten classroom. They are reading with younger students as part of the Planet Kindergarten literacy program.

[music]

Anthony Godfrey:
We're here at Oak Leaf Elementary School talking with Jennifer Ballard, one of the kindergarten teachers. Talk to us a little bit about this program of having sixth graders read with kindergartners.

Jennifer Ballard:
So this year we started doing Planet Kindergarten that was a pretty cool idea and concept from the Jordan School District literacy department, specifically the kindergarten specialists. And at first we were a little bit nervous because it's a big undertaking, but the program that they've set out is incredible. And we have so many of our students, almost a hundred percent, that have mastered all their letters and sounds, and they did that by November 1st.

Anthony Godfrey:
And all their letters and sounds by November 1st is really a benchmark where we say if you can get there before November, then it really sets you on a good path for the rest of the year.

Jennifer Ballard:
Absolutely. We are learning how to read and write CVC words, blends, and digraphs and we can't do any of that without knowing our letters and sounds.

Anthony Godfrey:
Describe what it looks like when sixth graders are helping kindergartners reach this goal because Planet Kindergarten is something that's happening in elementary schools throughout Jordan School District, but this is the first I've heard of sixth graders being involved in helping kindergartners reach that goal. So tell me what that looks like.

Jennifer Ballard:
So we have a couple time slots through the day that we have students coming down to read with our kindergartners and it is almost all sixth graders, but we do actually have students as young as third grade coming to help our kids read. And so the student council has really taken on the biggest piece of it and they come every day before lunch. At the beginning it was just practicing letters, and kids would go out in the hall with letter flashcards, they would learn letters and their sounds, and as they passed those off, they advanced into reading whole words and then reading in decodable text, which is amazing.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me, so do the sixth graders feel the sense of accomplishment as well? I assume that they do, and the student they're working with has a breakthrough.

Jennifer Ballard:
They do. It's really cute because they'll come in afterwards and I won't ask them for feedback on how the kids did, but I have several sixth graders come back to me and say, “Oh my gosh, they're getting so good at this” and they're so proud of them and really all the grades that come to help with them just feel really excited. I've even had several come back and tell me that that's their favorite part of the day is coming to read with our kindergarten students.

Anthony Godfrey:
So third through sixth graders coming to read with the kindergartners, how does that change the motivation for kindergartners? How long have you been teaching and what difference have you seen from years where you haven't had those older students helping?

Jennifer Ballard:
I feel like this year was monumental with that. I've never seen collective efficacy on such a grand scale before where we all had this goal, and it wasn't just teachers having a goal for kids, but the kids had the goal themselves, and now other kids have that goal for them. So we would announce that on Morning News. We talked about it a lot, and everybody just got excited about it. I've taught for 12 or 13 years. I've lost track but 12 or 13 years now and this has been the biggest breakthrough with kids reading.

Anthony Godfrey:
I assume that this is something that will continue for a long time now that you've seen the results.

Jennifer Ballard:
Yes, it absolutely will continue, and we're planning to keep it going all through the rest of this year, not just ending at letters and sounds but with reading books.

Anthony Godfrey:
What has the social impact been on just the culture of the school, with having older students involved with the younger students, because there's a lot of separation in elementary school? You don't always run into each other. You have separate playgrounds, separate lunchtimes. What has it done for unifying the school?

Jennifer Ballard:
I feel like the kids all take care of each other better. They look out for each other. I have little ones on the way to rotations, but the big kids will come and give them high fives and hugs, and they know their names. That's really cute, and when we take them out to the bus area, we get a little nervous to leave our kindergartners, but these big kids they just love them, and they've got them, and they take really good care of them.

Anthony Godfrey:
So there's a sense of belonging in both directions. The younger students have third through sixth graders to look up to and connect with, and the sixth and third graders, sixth through third graders feel this sense of responsibility to the younger students, it sounds like. I think this is tremendous. I think it's amazing.

Jennifer Ballard:
Yeah, it's been a really awesome thing at our school, and I feel like our school has always been really well connected, but this has connected us even more, and it's really cool to see the oldest kids looking out for the youngest ones and wanting them to be successful.

Anthony Godfrey:
Where did the idea come from? Where did this start?

Jennifer Ballard:
We were trying to decide in PLCs how to go about this goal because it did seem like a lofty goal and we knew we could attain it but we needed the right resources. So I believe it was our assistant principal Toni Lasater who had the idea and then we all talked about all the admin, our coach, the whole kindergarten team and it really just kind of steamrolled from, “well maybe it could be the student council that comes to read with them,” and then it evolved into, “well I bet even other grades would want to come read,” and soon enough teachers were telling us their kids were really working hard to come read with kindergarten.

Anthony Godfrey:
Did they need to earn that by working in their own class and making sure they're caught up before they could step away to help kindergartners?

Jennifer Ballard:
Yes, some teachers did use it as incentive. If they did a good job in class and got all their work done and if they were respectful and kind, then they got to come read with the kids.

Anthony Godfrey:
What a cool idea. Well, congratulations on a great program and a huge impact and I'm excited to see where this goes.

Jennifer Ballard:
We're really grateful for all the support from our whole staff because it does take time from upper grades. I know they have a lot of academics they need to cover, but we, as kindergarten teachers, are especially grateful to everyone who has helped out other teachers, aides, parents. It's been all-encompassing at our school.

Anthony Godfrey:
And everyone will benefit as those kindergartners who have the help of older students come up through the grades.

Jennifer Ballard:
Yes absolutely.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's going to have a cumulative ongoing effect, so thank you.

[music]

Anthony Godfrey:
Stay with us. When we come back a conversation with the sixth-grade students who really are book ambassadors.

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Episode 339: Oak Leaf Elementary 6th Grade Students Leading by Helping Younger Kids with Reading