Grade 5 and 6 students at Poplar Ridge School got some major help with their book reports recently thanks to a collaboration with Red Deer College.
The elementary student-to-college student project matched pupils from the two schools together for a novel study.
Forty-one teams — made up of a Poplar Ridge student and a fourth-year student in the Bachelor of Education program — corresponded each week as they mutually worked their way through a novel they chose to study together.
The students then met for the first time at an open house earlier this week at which the teams displayed interpretations of their novel studies they had made. These interpretations included things like papier mâché characters and treasure chests full of letters.
The initiative was guided by Barb Hanson, who teaches part-time in the college’s education department after retiring from the role of principal at Poplar Ridge last year.
It received praise from students and administrators for building confidence and encouraging creative collaboration and relationship building between soon-to-be teachers and students.
“For our students, it has made them feel confident in their ability to write and interpret what they are reading,” said Poplar Ridge vice-principal Claire Funk,
“It allowed them to share the experience of a book they were enjoying with someone else, and to reflect on that reading in a variety of ways.”
Poplar Ridge School is located eight km west of Red Deer between Hwys 11 and 11A.