Reading Buddies, Part 3

Guragie looked at her friend, feeling bad for her. Reading to the kindergarteners was required for each 5th grader as part of their service to the school. She knew that Anubitu would rather be doing any of the other services, including cafeteria duty. Anubitu had tried to find ways around working with the kindergarteners, claiming she didn't work well with little kids. Her teacher had firmly stood her ground on the issue, and so Anubitu had been forced to participate. The only thing that made it better was that she ended up paired with Guragie.

"I'll help you get started, okay?" Guragie looked to the group of girls. "Let's start by sitting back on our beanbags." Each of the girls found their bags and sat. "Good job. Now, my friend wants to share a story with you, but she can't unless you're ready to listen to it. We want to put our hands in our laps and make sure our ears are ready too." The girls giggled, doing as asked. "All right. Now, we're going to make sure we paying really close attention while she reads, which means leaving our friends alone. Everyone understand?"

"Yes!" came the chorus of replies.

"What do I do if they want to act out the book?" asked Anubitu. She pointed to Aaeru. "When I mentioned the chicken, she got up and started acting like one."

Guragie thought for a few minutes. "Oh! She can be your helper." She looked to Aaeru. "Would you like to act out the animals while Anubitu reads?"

Aaeru grinned. "Yeah!"

"Okay. When Anubitu finishes the page, you can pretend to be the animal you just heard about, but you have to stop when Anubitu says to."

"Okay!"

"Now you should be all right." Guragie smiled at Anubitu, and Anubitu relaxed.

Sitting back down again, Anubitu once more picked up the farm animal book. This time, the girls had their attention on her. They weren't picking or talking. She began to read the book, pausing at the end of each page so that Aaeru could be a cow or a duck or a chicken. Each time, she feared the young girl would not listen when asked to stop, but Aaeru always listened. She felt more confident as she read and by the end of the book, the girls clapped. When Anubitu looked up, she saw the kindergarten teacher watching the group.

"That was wonderful! The girls did so well for you," she complimented.

Anubitu tried to hide the blush that crept across her face. "T-thanks," she mumbled.

"Your time's just ended, so you can head back to class. It was nice having you, wasn't it girls?"

"Yes!"

Once back in the hallway, Anubitu waited for Guragie to catch up. She was more than happy to be heading back to the 5th grade room and work on science, the class they were missing. She would be happy not going back to kindergarten any time soon.

"Wait up, Anubitu!" called Guragie in a hushed whisper, not wanting to disturb the other classes.

Anubitu paused and let her friend catch up. The two began walking the rest of the way back, books in hand. "We don't have to go back again, right?"

Guragie couldn't help but giggle. "Not for a few weeks." The only reply from Anubitu was a loud groan.