&uot;Pay attention, now,&uot; Lauren Wiggins said to the restless kindergartner, Halley Watson.

But ironically, Lauren is a third-grader at Troy Elementary School.

Most of the time teachers would be the ones telling this to students.

But Wednesday at Troy Elementary School third graders took on that role as they read out loud to kindergartners as part of their enrichment class.

&uot;Now he's a bear and he wanted to work and couldn't decide on an occupation,&uot; said Lauren as she explains to Halley the book she has chosen to read: My Teddy Bear At Work. &uot;But in the end he decides to be a stay-at-home bear.&uot;

While keeping the kindergarten class's attention proved to be difficult at times, Cindy Miller, enrichment instructor for TES said the program was beneficial to all.

&uot;It really provides (the third-graders) a chance to practice on other kids the skills the they have learned,&uot; she said. &uot;And the kindergartners love it, too.&uot;

The third-graders chose books on a third-grade reading level that would also be of interest to a kindergarten-age listener.

The class included third-graders from Dawn Mosley, Carol Stuart and Misty Curtis' classes.

To help keep the kindergartners' interest, the third-graders also prepared &uot;bag book reports&uot; along with their book to provide a visual 3-D element to their storytelling.

Everything from sticks to quarters to soap and toothpaste were included in the bags.

&uot;Whatever their book was about, they brought,&uot; Miller said. &uot;In essence, the third graders became a teacher for a day.&uot;

She said that while they had fun, some of the third graders confessed to being a little nervous.

&uot;They really had to prepare themselves,&uot; she said. &uot;It was a good teaching tool, a sort of across-the-curriculum-grade peer tutoring program.&uot;

Miller said to follow the success of this program, she hopes to have the kindergartners read to some of her fifth-grade enrichment classes.

&uot;We thought it would be good to do a sort of vice versa here,&uot; she said. &uot;The kindergartners were real attentive and I think they will get a lot out of it.&uot;