First Graders as Volunteers

One of the parents of my students coordinates special events at a local nursing home, and she invited my class to visit the residents.  Thankfully, the school district in which I work supports these kinds of events by providing buses.  Because this visit went so well, I am also thinking about having them return in February or March.  I had already made arrangements to return in the spring for another visit. 

I scheduled three activities during this visit.  First, my students would either read a book they self selected from school to the residents, or have a resident read a book my students brought from our classroom to them.  Two students chose to have a resident read a book to them and the remainder read to the residents.  Each student read the book of their choice to me before we left; I wanted to be sure they could read the book fluently so that the residents could enjoy the story and the first grader would feel confident when they read.  

The second activity was a snack provided by the special events coordinator.  Both the residents and the first graders enjoyed munching on grapes, eating cookies, and drinking bottled water.

Finally, my class sat in a circle on the carpet and we discussed what they enjoyed about the visit.  The residents were sitting on the outside of the circle in chairs and wheelchairs.  I wanted the residents to hear the positive impact of the visit from the first graders themselves.  Some of the first graders' responses were that they liked reading to a grown up and they thought the snacks were good.  They also said that they liked hearing the compliments of the residents ("She said I was a good reader.  I like it when people say that.") and it was fun to take field trips in school.

Here are some pictures: