The Office of School Partnerships

Reading Buddies and Lectores y Amiguitos Reading Programs

Reading Buddies

The Reading Buddies program pairs HGSE students, staff and other Harvard affiliated volunteers with second graders at the Amigos Elementary School, a dual language immersion school in Cambridge. During weeks when the second grade student group is instructed in English, Reading Buddy volunteers read aloud and share conversation with students on designated Thursdays listed below from 12:05 to 12:45pm. (view calendar below)

The Reading Buddies Program is coordinated by the HGSE Office of School Partnerships in collaboration with Cambridge School Volunteers (CSV), Inc. The HGSE Staff Advisory Committee to the Dean for Administration (SACAD) supports recruitment. Reading Buddy volunteers learn how reading aloud promotes literacy in a training session led by Amigos School educators and CSV staff. At a holiday party and at a year-end picnic for students and volunteers, each student receives a book to take home chosen by his or her buddy.

To learn more about Reading Buddies, call the Office of School Partnerships at 617-496-4822 or email school_partnerships@harvard.edu. Also, please read the Harvard Gazette article on Reading Buddies (written when the program was on Tuesdays).

Lectores y Amiguitos

Lectores y Amiguitos is a Spanish language volunteer program in which fluent Spanish speakers from HGSE and the Harvard community read to second graders at the Amigos Elementary School. Volunteers read aloud and share conversation in Spanish with students approximately every Thursday from 12:05 to 12:45pm. (view calendar below)

The goal of Lectores y Amiguitos is to foster a love of reading in Spanish and to give second graders the opportunity to practice their Spanish oral language and listening skills. This Spanish program is designed to complement the HGSE Reading Buddies program, in which another group of volunteers read one-on-one with students in English.

Both programs are coordinated by the HGSE Office of School Partnerships, in collaboration with Cambridge School Volunteers (CSV) Inc. Through a training session led by Amigos School educators and CSV staff, volunteers in the program learn how reading aloud can promote literacy, as well as strategies and techniques useful for reading to students in their second language.

Schedule for 2008-2009: Reading Buddies and Lectores Amiguitos Sessions

Lectores & Amiguitos:

• Oct 2 - Volunteer Orientation & Training 11:30 to 1:00pm Eliot Lyman Room at HGSE
• Oct 16 - Meet your 2nd grader and begin reading sessions at Amigos School, 100 Putnam Ave, 12:05 - 12:45 PM
• Oct 23 - Amigos School
• Oct 30 - Amigos School
• Nov 6 - Amigos School
• Nov 13 - Amigos School
• Nov 20 - Amigos School
• Dec 4 - Holiday Party at Amigos School
• Dec 11 - Holiday Party at Amigos School
• Jan 22, 2009 - Amigos School
• Jan 29 - Amigos School
• Feb 5 - Amigos School (Kids read aloud)
• Feb 12 - Amigos School (Kids read aloud)
• Feb 19 - Mid year training/Lunch for volunteers at HGSE
• Feb 26 - Amigos School
• Mar 5 - Amigos School
• Mar 12 - Amigos School
• Mar 19 - Amigos School
• Apr 2 - Amigos School (Kids read aloud)
• Apr 9 - Amigos School (Kids read aloud)
• Apr 16 - Amigos School
• Apr 30 - End of year Fiesta for Lectores y Amiguitos at Corporal Burns Park near
  Amigos School

Reading Buddies (Purple Group):

• Oct 2 - Volunteer Orientation & Training 11:30 to 1:00pm Eliot Lyman Room at HGSE
• Oct 16 - Meet your 2nd grader and begin reading sessions at Amigos School, 100 Putnam Ave, 12:05 - 12:45 PM
• Oct 30 - Amigos School
• Nov 13 - Amigos School
• Dec 11 - Holiday Party at Amigos School
• Jan 29 2009 - Amigos School
• Feb 12 - Amigos School (Kids read aloud)
• Feb 19 - Mid year training/Lunch at HGSE
• Mar 5 - Amigos School
• Mar 19 - Amigos School
• Apr 2 - Amigos School (Kids read aloud)
• Apr 16 - Amigos School
• May 7 from 11:45 to 1pm - End of Year Picnic for all Reading Buddies at Radcliffe Yard
• GSE

Reading Buddies (Red Group):

Oct 2 - Volunteer Orientation & Training 11:30 to 1:00pm Eliot Lyman Room at HGSE
Oct 23 - Meet your 2nd grader and begin reading sessions at Amigos School, 100 Putnam Ave, 12:05 - 12:45 PM
Nov 6 - Amigos School
Nov 20 - Amigos School
Dec 4 - Holiday Party at Amigos School
Jan 22, 2009 - Amigos School
Feb 5 - Amigos School (Kids read aloud)
Feb 19 - Mid year training/Lunch at HGSE
Feb 26 - Amigos School
Mar 12 - Amigos School
Apr 9 - Amigos School (Kids read aloud)
May 7 - from 11:45 to 1pm - End of Year Picnic for all Reading Buddies at Radcliffe Yard HGSE

For more information on Lectores y Amiguitos and the Reading Buddies programs please call the HGSE Office of School Partnerships at 617-496-4822 and ask to speak with the Program Coordinators, or send an email to: school_partnerships@harvard.edu