While typical "buddy reading" involves students reading to younger children or reading aloud the same book in unison, I take an alternative approach to reading buddies in my classroom.  In fact, it is so different that I call it them "Reading Partnerships."

In this unit, students will be paired with similar readers in their class to engage in meaningful reading partnerships. All readers will be given strategies to help them compose open-ended questions and will then meet regularly to discuss a common text that they have chosen to read. Reading partners each have their own copy of the agreed upon chapter book, and they set-up times to meet and discuss the text throughout their reading of the book.

When finished with a text, reading partners will work together to complete a reading project and share their common reading experience with their classmates.

Students will:

1. Reflect on their reading interests and strengths
2. Choose a "just right" book to read with a partner
3. Plan and organize reading meetings with a partner in the class
4. Review story elements by retelling the stories they are reading
5. Make text-to-self and text-to-text connections as they read
6. Compose "thick" questions about a text that encourage higher-level thinking
7. Discuss and evaluate literature with a partner
8. Make predictions about what they are reading based on evidence from the text
9. Plan and present a book project to their classmates

Lesson 1: How Do Reading Partnerships Work?

Lesson 2: Book Discussions in a Reading Partnership

Lesson 3: Reading Partnership Book Projects