Our school is really big on reading buddies --- { which I love BTW }...I'm curious how many of you have this type of program set up as well. We meet with a 5th grade class every Friday and they sit and read with their buddy. It really is the cutest thing. I love watching them read and interact.
* However...now that in So. Cal we have gone up to 30 students in K-2 we decided to split up our class. We used to have the 5th graders come down to my room and spread out to read with their buddies. Now we think it will be easier for 1/2 of the class to go to the 5th grade room and 1/2 stay in mine with their 5th grade buddies. Otherwise 66 bodies in my lil ole' room might be a bit LOUD. My ears hurt just thinking about it. LOL... *
Prior to the first meet up I meet with the teacher and we look over our class lists to see who would be great with who -- it's always been a blast.
We also do fun seasonal activities together as well. For instance - hot cocoa at Christmas with a book exchange, writing new years goals together at the beginning of the year, etc. We make them a gift at Christmas too - a snowman ornament from a tongue depressor...
We also use them as buddies to help if a student is struggling with issues on the playground, etc. Here is a picture of some of the buddies. We were buddies with my daugther's class from a couple years ago -- she's in the pink fuzzy Christmas stocking hat with the braids and cute smile. :oD
At the end of the year we have a mini field trip to the park across the street and have a picnic with our buddies. I love building community!
We share our campus with a special ed preschool that has a typical peer program. ( mainly focusing on autisim ) we have now also adopted a preschool classroom - adopt a pup. It's the cutest thing. But we only meet with them 2x's a year for a craft project. Tell me what you think...do you guys have buddies?
