ANSON — A bright yellow frog stared back at 12-year-old Alex Cloutier from the pages of a Scholastic magazine Wednesday morning.
“I’m liking it so far and I feel like I’m learning a lot,” said the sixth grader as he thumbed through the pages of the magazine with two classmates at the Carrabec Community School and a reading tutor from Carrabec High School.
The lesson, which included reading both non-fiction articles from the magazine and a fiction book from “The Magic School Bus” series, is part of a new partnership between Literacy Volunteers of Franklin and Somerset Counties and the LearningWorks AmeriCorps program at Carrabec High School.
Modeled after the Teen Trendsetters program of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy, the new program pairs high school students with sixth-graders at Carrabec Community School. The students will meet eight times this semester, each time with a packet of new reading material provided by the Literacy Volunteers, to work on their reading skills.
When they’re done, the sixth-graders will tutor first grade students later this spring.
“It’s a great program,” said Carrabec Community School teacher Lesa Weggler, who said the literacy program has sent adult volunteers to her classroom before but this is the first time they have partnered with the high school to do so. “It’s great because they learn how to be a tutor and a mentor to younger children, which is something they can carry over to their lives at home, but they also learn a lot about themselves as readers.”
Carrabec Community School — which serves K-8 students in Anson, Embden, New Portland and Solon — was about 10 percent below statewide averages for reading proficiency and growth in 2014, the most recent data available from the Department of Education.
Carrabec High School, which is also in School Administrative District 74, also fell below statewide averages for reading proficiency and progress in 2014, with 41 percent of students meeting or exceeding reading proficiency on standardized tests.
Having students from different grade levels work together on improving their reading skills is an effective way for them to get better, according to Weggler and Sally Speich, chairwoman of the board of directors for Literacy Volunteers of Franklin and Somerset Counties, who said the tutoring program helps students reinforce what they are learning by talking about it.
“Kids love things that come in from the outside that’s out of the norm. It kind of gets them excited and it’s good for both sides,” Speich said. “The best way to learn is through teaching so by teaching younger students these students are reinforcing their own skills.”
The Carrabec schools are currently the only ones in Franklin and Somerset counties with which the literacy volunteers have organized a teen tutoring program, but Speich said they hope to expand to other schools by next year.
“It reminds me of when I was in middle school and how much fun it was to have older kids help,” said Autumn Holzworth, 18, of Solon. “Everyone teaches in a different style. Another student might teach differently then a teacher who is certified and sometimes it can make it more fun.”
On Wednesday, Holzworth was working with three middle school girls on reading about weather and the water cycle. Kiera Goodale, 12, of Embden, said she was looking forward to also helping first grade students with their reading.
“I’m excited. It should be fun,” she said.
At another table, Alex Cloutier, Ben Clark and Kaylee Bailey were reading about animals with high school student Travis Libby.
“I like helping kids out,” said Libby, 16, of Anson. “It’s fun for me and fun for them and we all learn a lot.”
In a few weeks, the younger students will have their chance to pass on what they’ve learned to first grade students.
“We can do it,” Cloutier said. “I feel confident.”
Rachel Ohm — 612-2368
Twitter: @rachel_ohm
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