Reading program pairs Glen Ellyn sixth-graders with seniors
The buzz in Cindi Baker’s sixth-grade reading classroom peaks about two times a month. On those days, her Glen Crest Middle School students anticipate the arrival of their reading buddies.
As they wait and talk about what they are going to read with their partners, volunteers from The Meadows of Glen Ellyn do the same. The residents of the senior-living community, about a mile north on Route 53, line up and eagerly await their trip down to help Baker’s class.
They are part of a partnership between the two entities that gives students and seniors alike a chance to get out of their daily routine. But the partnership, now in its third year, means so much more to them.
The seniors get a chance to increase what Meadows officials call “intellectual fulfillment,” a sense that they are passing on the knowledge that they have amassed during their lives.
For the students, who Baker says “require a little bit of extra support,” the meetings allow them to relax and learn to enjoy reading.
“They get to practice with someone other than me and (fellow reading specialist Lisa Riordan),” she said. “It’s all designed to be pleasurable. It’s not tedious or overly structured. It’s a period of fun reading with someone completely different.”
On two Mondays every month, the seniors load up the bus and head down the highway, with Glen Crest set as their destination. Early in the school year, the students write introductory letters, which are sent to The Meadows.
When the letters arrive, Lifestyle Programs Assistant Jill Monken seeks volunteers and lets them know just how big of a commitment they are undertaking.
“It gives them that little bit extra sense of, ‘Hey, I’m still worth something,’” Monken said. “They take it very seriously.”
Monken said that at any time there is a waiting list of at least four residents who want to jump in on the program.
Baker says the arrangement has been a huge success, and she says the students get excited when the day comes.
“They’re nervous and excited,” she said. “But it does not take long before we hear the laughing and the chatting about various things.”
At the end of the school year, The Meadows hosts a luncheon for the seniors and students, and Monken starts to list the following year’s volunteers. She said it’s easy to fill the 15 slots.
“It helps reinforce what they have learned throughout life and what they have,” she said. “It’s a benefit to others and they like going over and helping the children.”
For at least those two days out of the month, the students know they will not be getting assessed and they are allowed to just relax and read with their new friends.
“It’s rewarding to see because we are usually so instructional,” Baker said. “We don’t always get to see the lighter side of that. It’s like seeing how they would be with a grandparent. It’s very touching to see that.”