ALMONTE – Colourful storybooks about rockets, ballerinas and
sweet treats were handed over to thrilled young readers at R.Tait Mackenzie
School last week.
Breanna Bedor’s Grade 10 English class from Almonte and District High School had the chance to present
their Kindergarten reading buddies with books written and illustrated
specifically for them.
Evan Ziai, 5, couldn’t believe his luck upon receiving a
book about outer space from his buddy Carson Scissons, author of “The Best
Adventure Yet.”
“My favourite part is when the plane takes off,” Ziai said,
in reference to the illustration of a rocket launching into space.
Scissons was equally pleased with Ziai’s reception to his
work.
“It has been a great process and I enjoyed it more than I
thought I might,” he said.
“Reading
to little kids and teaching them how to read has been great.”
Bedor kick-started the reading program in October 2009,
whereby her class would visit Jan Smith’s Kindergarten class once a week to
share the joy of reading.
The final project for Bedor’s students would see them write
and illustrate books tailored to their buddy’s interests. Bedor had the
hard-covered books bound and on Feb. 25, her students unveiled their hard work
to the delight of the young students.
Ysabella Stewart, 5, opened the pages of her book “Grace the
Great Girly Dancer” to find a story about unicorns and ballerinas.
“They are my favorite things,” she squealed.
Smith enjoyed watching the reaction of her students.
“They were thrilled to see such effort put into their
passion, which is reading,” she said.
“What positive role models they (the Grade 10 students) have
become.”
Bedor said she is preparing her students this semester for the same project.
“This is major character education and gets students to
think outside the box,” she said in an earlier interview.