{"id":3465,"date":"2026-05-20T12:47:34","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T19:47:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elementary.sd42.ca\/hammond\/?p=3465"},"modified":"2026-05-20T12:47:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T19:47:34","slug":"high-school-students-write-stories-for-elementary-students-in-book-buddy-literacy-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/elementary.sd42.ca\/hammond\/high-school-students-write-stories-for-elementary-students-in-book-buddy-literacy-project\/","title":{"rendered":"High school students write stories for elementary students in book buddy literacy project"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Y5YatumvuFM?si=cklVG03SoesWb7Wk\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Hammond Elementary students are the main characters in this story, written by Westview Secondary students.<\/p>\n<p>This story takes place at the Westview library on the morning of April 29, 2026. Students in grades 1, 2, 3 and 11 gather around tables to share literature and artwork.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are here to share our mementos and creations with our little buddy,\u201d said Grade 11 student Brooke Giles. \u201cAnd I presented a book I made and we\u2019re just reading it and hanging out together.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is going very good,\u201d said her buddy, Lochlan, who is in Grade 1.<\/p>\n<p>The visit from Hammond Elementary is a culmination of months of work. The project began in November, with students from Kaitlyn Drake\u2019s Grade 11 English class sending short introductory letters to their book buddies in Muriel Warne\u2019s Grade 1, 2, and 3 class.<\/p>\n<p>The younger students read the letters and sent back their own, listing their interests and favourite things.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn my letter, I wrote that I liked red,\u201d Lochlan said. \u201cI wrote my favourite food. I made a portrait of myself. And that\u2019s all I remember.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The high school students then use the information in the letters to write personalized stories for their younger buddies, featuring them as the main character.<\/p>\n<p>In Brooke\u2019s story, she made Lochlan red as a nod to his favourite colour.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe\u2019s good at drawing me,\u201d Lochlan said, pointing at the illustration in the book. \u201cLike, me in red. That literally looks like me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThank you, thank you,\u201d Brooke replied. \u201cWhat can I say? Your portrait you made was just so accurate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-20758 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sd42.ca\/assets\/media\/LOCH-STORY-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A Hammond Elementary student holds open a book written by a Westview Secondary student.\" width=\"606\" height=\"341\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The book buddy project helps build reading confidence for younger students while sharpening writing and editing skills for secondary students.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s developing their literacy skills,\u201d said Drake. \u201cThey\u2019re writing, they\u2019re reading, they\u2019re editing. They\u2019re following the drafting process. They\u2019re choosing to create something with intention.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, it\u2019s a way to collaborate and build community.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis was the brainchild of Krystyna, our librarian,\u201d said Drake. \u201cShe thought it would be a great way to connect with our feeder schools and have some of our junior students who will eventually be Wildcats come and meet our current Wildcats, and build that connection, kind of across the generation from top to the bottom.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When the elementary and secondary students finally come together to meet, they read the stories out loud and exchange handmade thank-you gifts and notes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen they get here, it&#8217;s just the most beautiful thing to see,\u201d Drake said. \u201cAll the big kids, they act like they don&#8217;t care, but they light up the second these little kids get in here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Grade 3 student Hazel really enjoyed the story Grade 11 international student Lenny Faust wrote for her, titled<em> Hazel and Her Magic Drawings<\/em>.<\/p>\n<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-3465 gallery-columns-2 gallery-size-full'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/elementary.sd42.ca\/hammond\/high-school-students-write-stories-for-elementary-students-in-book-buddy-literacy-project\/literature-exchange4\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"3840\" height=\"2160\" src=\"https:\/\/wordpress1.blob.core.windows.net\/hammond\/2026\/05\/LITERATURE-EXCHANGE4.jpeg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/elementary.sd42.ca\/hammond\/high-school-students-write-stories-for-elementary-students-in-book-buddy-literacy-project\/literature-exchange2\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"3840\" height=\"2160\" src=\"https:\/\/wordpress1.blob.core.windows.net\/hammond\/2026\/05\/LITERATURE-EXCHANGE2.jpeg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>\u201cIt was just a story where I drew stuff with this magic pen I got for Christmas, and it would become real,\u201d she explained, adding there was also a monster made of Jell-O that she would eventually defeat.<\/p>\n<p>The pen in the story was a reference to her hobby of art, and the Jell-O monster was a nod to her favourite food.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI tried to connect the things she wrote [in] the letter and put it into a story,\u201d said Lenny. \u201cI had to put myself into the situation of an elementary school kid and write the story with [shorter] sentences\u2026 so she can understand.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And she understood perfectly, he said, noting she even read it aloud by herself.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy students are so happy and proud of the handmade books they receive from their new friends,&#8221; said Hammond teacher Muriel Warne. \u201cMy students look forward to it all year with great joy. It is a highlight of their year and one of their favourite outings.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStory can help us build community,\u201d Drake added. \u201cI think that\u2019s what it comes down to.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hammond Elementary students are the main characters in this story, written by Westview Secondary students. This story takes place at the Westview library on the morning of April 29, 2026. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":3466,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/elementary.sd42.ca\/hammond\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/elementary.sd42.ca\/hammond\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/elementary.sd42.ca\/hammond\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elementary.sd42.ca\/hammond\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elementary.sd42.ca\/hammond\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3465"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/elementary.sd42.ca\/hammond\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3465\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3470,"href":"https:\/\/elementary.sd42.ca\/hammond\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3465\/revisions\/3470"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elementary.sd42.ca\/hammond\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/elementary.sd42.ca\/hammond\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elementary.sd42.ca\/hammond\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elementary.sd42.ca\/hammond\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}