My Reading Buddy

"Hey Suemae, you are gonna have a long day today, ya?"

"Yup... I need to be at school to read to my buddy, then get back on campus to work all day, and will head out to the conference at 4:30. Will be back late tonight," as rubbed shampoo into my hair.

"And you have class tomorrow morning, ya?"

"Yup... 8 to 12." Crap! I do have class. With all my homework due on Monday with a mid-term that I am falling back on my readings... How would I cope?

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I jumped out of the shower and tried not to let the busy schedule get to me as I prepared. Well, no matter how crazy things get, I look forward to see CJ.

As a part of my Children's Literature class, we are participating in a reading program with the neighborhood school. We have a reading buddy in the 3rd Grade whom we will spend 30-minutes every week to read to, with, and by. I have a spunky red-headed boy and I think he is just wonderful. The purpose of this class is to get us exposed to more children's literature and see how it interacts with real children. The kids at the school are from high-risk family and some even have immediate family members who are involved in gangs, etc.

I love reading with CJ. Just half-hour of my time does wonders for both of us, and it sure reminds me about my days of English tutoring. He is a very smart kid to me. I was touched that he practiced books that were slightly above his reading level, and long books too! He read to me "Click, Clack, Moo" our last time, and today, "David Gets in Trouble." I reckon he loves fun books so I read to him "I Ain't Gonna Paint No More" and we read "Curious George" together.

He is an excellent reader to me. Not perfect, but persistent. He was flexible to indulge in my whim to read Curious George which he did not practice reading before, and although

it was LONG and a few difficult words were present, he plowed on, sound the words, and we had a great time with sidetrack stories too. I guess my time with CJ will be my oasis in this mad semester. I can't wait till next Friday!