Partnership

    Mrs. Morris's fifth grade reading class and Mrs. Walton's second grade class formed a partnership to read and write about the animals at the Zoo. Twice a week for twenty minutes, one to one, the fifth graders read and discussed a book about zoo animals with the second graders. The fifth graders selected books from the library that they thought the second graders would enjoy.
    In addition to reading about the animals, the two groups visited the Brandywine Zoo. The students walked around the whole zoo together, and then each second grader selected one animal to draw and write about. The next few days the fifth graders helped the second graders write and type on the computer a story about the animals they chose. These stories were combined to form a book Favorite Animals at the Brandywine Zoo, and a copy was given to each second grader.
     During the last week the students were together, they switched roles. The second graders read books they had chosen to the fifth graders and asked them questions about what they had read. This was a practice for the second graders who will now go and read to the kindergarten students.
 

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