R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press At an elementary school in Gladstone, volunteer Rita Wickham talks with children Alexa Reed, left, and Elin Anderson, right, about a story they’ve just read. The intention of the Reading Buddies program is to match one senior with one student, but more volunteers are needed.

GLADSTONE — At W.C. Cameron Elementary School, Wednesday mornings are for Reading Buddies — a program that pairs first-grade students with volunteers from the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP). It gives children of various reading levels one-on-one time with elder figures for a different mode of education than they receive in a full classroom with one teacher — ideally, at least.

However, a low number of volunteers means that some students end up doubling up, two kids to one adult reading buddy, which is less effective since the volunteer’s attention is divided and not all children read and work at the same pace.

“You would be surprised at the progress, though,” said volunteer Ivy Gauthier. “I get teary-eyed from the beginning to the end of the school year.”

The program has evolved since it came to Cameron in 1996. Teachers ask for feedback from the volunteers and incorporate their notes when restructuring the format of Reading Buddies.

A critical time in childhood development, first grade is when kids practice reading comprehension and writing. On days when the volunteers come to visit for half-hour sessions at Cameron, the matched-up buddies read a story from the kids’ “big book” (McGraw Hill Reading Wonders Literature Anthology) and then fill out a worksheet to analyze the text.

Teacher Jennifer DesArmo referred to the activity posed to the children after reading as a “five-finger retell” — the kids are asked to identify (1) the setting, (2) the characters, and then the plot’s (3) beginning, (4) middle and (5) end.

In the beginning of the year, the children were allowed to draw pictures in the “story map” spaces on the worksheet. But now, just past the halfway point of the school year, the kids are expected to put full sentences on paper.

“So instead of drawing pictures first, you are writing sentences and drawing pictures to support your writing,” teacher Dominique Bougie told her students before leaving them to the buddies last Wednesday. She also reminded them that sentences begin with capital letters, have “finger spaces” between words, and end with punctuation.

The program benefits both lower- and higher-achieving kids, as each student can get support they need, tailored to their specific level, during one-on-one time.

“And they’re getting it from a new, smiling face who’s not on them seven hours a day,” DesArmo pointed out.

When one student, Iris Ellison, suggested a simple, three-word sentence to describe what happened in the story last week, her buddy Joann Clark encouraged the girl to “zip it up a bit,” and Iris ended up forming a compound sentence.

Because of a shortage of volunteers, the five first-grade classes at Cameron alternate, each group doing Reading Buddies every other week. The educators would love to have enough volunteers to be able to have every student meet with a buddy once a week — or even just enough to have one volunteer per student. Jim Knuth called attention to the fact that more men were needed; he was the only one in the room.

Of the 207 volunteers enrolled in the RSVP for the tri-county area, only 23 are active as reading buddies at Cameron Elementary.

There are 16 RSVPs operating in Michigan, said local RSVP Coordinator Lori Giuliani. The local program, sponsored by Menominee-Delta-Schoolcraft Community Action Agency, has 30 stations at which their volunteers can work after filling out the application and passing a background check. One requirement for the RSVP program is that participants must have reached the age of 55.

“It’s a good intergenerational activity,” Giuliani said of Reading Buddies. “A lot of these kids don’t have grandparents at all, or in the area. And the same thing goes for our volunteers. Their grandchildren may live far away and they don’t get to see them, so this gives them the opportunity to work with children their grandchildren’s age. … It’s a win-win for everybody.”

At other schools, Reading Buddies operates differently; in Rapid River, for example, the meetings on Thursdays are with second-graders in smaller classes for a longer period and with more activities, said volunteer Rita Wickham.

Teachers say their students look forward to Reading Buddies days, and the volunteers enjoy helping kids grow.

Ellie Alm, who has been volunteering as a reading buddy for over 20 years and said she’s seen a lot of changes, said, “it’s a nice program, a really good program.”

To get involved, new participants may sign up through the Community Action Agency at 906-786-7080.