Orlando Diaz, Reading Eagles Coordinator, Room 18 (orlando.diaz@lausd.net)

Soaring on the wings of books at Micheltorena!

The Reading Eagles mentorship program is a collaboration between our Wonder of Reading Library and the Micheltorena Arts Plan.  The Reading Eagles program matches 4th, 5th and 6th graders with students from pre-K through 3rd grade. In the program, older children read and discuss stories with younger children. Reading Eagles develops constructive leadership and trust in children while building their level of literacy.

The program takes place in the library and is currently being piloted twice a week, on Mondays and Wednesdays, from 7:20 to 7:50 AM.   Reading Eagles will also be implemented during lunch hours and after-school, beginning in the spring.

The goal of the program is to develop intrinsic motivation for reading in students.  The framework is fluid, allowing for varying degrees of attendance by students, so as to encourage as many children as possible to take part. However, Reading Eagles also aims to develop regular attendance in order to maximize student outcomes.

All first-time participants, upper and lower grades, will design their own Reading Eagle nametag. Kate will facilitate the pairing of students and book selection. Every two weeks, teachers will be informed of students who participated in the program, as well as of book themes for coming weeks. All other mornings of the week, students are also welcome to attend the library before school.

Several initiatives will support student incentive:

• Pre-selection of books according to themes such as animal stories, pirate stories, classic fairy tales, holiday themes… themes will change every two weeks, beginning in January, and will be posted on the library door.
• Reading Eagles Story Soar Challenges: periodic challenges for students, which might involve reading books, designing bookmarks, learning poems… The first challenge will be in the spring.
• Visiting readers: community artists, parents, teachers, administrative staff will drop in and read a story once a month. Visiting readers will be announced on the library door and throughout the school, beginning in January.
• A poster in the library will display pictures of the program in action and other news.

Other Micheltorena Arts Plan library initiatives include:

• Young Poets’ Society, an interdisciplinary poetry-writing group that will culminate in bookmaking and a performance of poems.
• Library Music and Reading series, an evening of words and music for the entire community.

And much more.  Come and read with us.