Anne Fitzpatrick

In an effort to increase the literacy level of Kimball Elementary School's bilingual students, who represent 40 percent of the student body, Fitzpatrick developed an innovative project called the "Sibling Reading Program." The program awards incentives to intermediate readers who have primary level siblings. They are "hired" as student teachers. Their job is to read one primary book a night to their younger sibling. They are given the books and a folder with a tracking sheet. After the student- teacher has read 30 books to his/her sibling, he/she receives a book for their home library. According to Fitzpatrick, the pilot has been very successful. Students are telling her that they enjoy reading to their siblings, and the parents are telling her that in some cases, the reading time has brought the siblings closer together. Fitzpatrick lives in Seattle.