There are many things that are important to teach children in this life but a skill that they will use every day is reading. As parents, we do our part to make sure that our children are able to read effectively and sometimes, they may even enter primary school knowing how to read quite well. The school district also gets involved and we try to do our part to make sure that they continue to learn and enjoy reading. Every once in a while, however, you hear about an idea that takes things to the next level and that is what this clever bus driver discovered. The funny thing is, it happened by accident.
Julie Callison of the Drew Central School District in Arkansas is a special education teacher and she learned how much her children love to read when she was cleaning the books out of her classroom. She was going to take the books on vacation and decided to bring them with her on the bus ride home.
She said: “One of the kids had a little too much energy so I asked her older brother who was sitting next to her to read her a book from the bag I had.” Once one of the students saw the books were there, they asked why they couldn’t do it as well and something fantastic got started.
“This year I added a bucket of books on my bus to encourage students to read,” The Arkansas Department of Education posted on their Facebook page of Callison. “The way this works is, when students get on the bus they can get up to three books. After they read those, they can share with students around them, then put them back in the bucket on the way out the door. I have older students reading to younger students, and younger students reading to older students,” the post continued.
Students of all ages ride this bus, from pre-K up to seniors. She finds that it’s great to keep the students building their reading skills but also helps them with their focus. She said: “Sometimes my kids can be off the chain. They have a lot of energy, especially if the weather was bad that day and they’ve been cooped up in classrooms. This is a great way for them to focus their energy on something positive.”
She also does something on Friday afternoons that makes it even more special. It is a ‘special guest reader’, which is typically a high school or middle school student. They pick out a book and sit up front to read it to the entire bus and all of the students love it. It’s a rather simple idea but it’s something that keeps the children engaged, regardless of their age group.
Callison is rather surprised at the attention she received since the idea was posted online. One of the students has taken it on themselves to keep everyone updated with the viral fame. “He’s been keeping kids updated on the number of shares we’ve received and also helping to announce guest readers and other information.”
She said that other bus drivers have also chimed in to say that they are interested in starting such a book club. “It’s something kids of all ages have gotten into,” she shares. “The older kids may not always like to read themselves but they do enjoy reading to the younger students. It’s been really fun for all of them.”