Buddy Class

Learning is a social activity... and to behave appropriately in many social situations is a learnt skill. So when I tell you that we have ANOTHER buddy class, please do not think that I am avoiding teaching your children. There are very specific outcomes I have in mind when I plan to meet with a buddy class. On Friday, we went from WPS to our sister school, Windermere Elementary where the 3rd-5th grades are taught. Ms. Price, a 3rd Grade teacher, and I intended to start buddying up back in September but it has taken us this long to finally get a plan together and find a good time for both classes. Our intention is to meet once a month for social learning outcomes as well as academic goals. This month our academic goal was to share our writing for the purpose of telling our buddies about who we are and what we like to do. (An informative writing prompt.) Our social goals were to learn to be a leader (for the 3rd graders) and to learn to make friends with someone older (for the 1st graders). It is also important to me that the students become familiar with WES as it is the school the majority of the students will attend when they get to 3rd grade. There is typically a drop in achievement when instruction is broken... I guess that's "education-ese" for saying that when students start a new school or a new grade, they don't learn much in the first few weeks while they adjust to the new expectations. It is doubly compounded when they go to a new grade in a new school which is what happens to our 2nd graders when they move to WES for 3rd grade. It is my hope and intention that my students become as familiar with WES as they are with WPS... ergo, we have a buddy class at WES.

Having said all that, I just want to say that we had a really marvelous time with our new buddies and we are looking forward to going again in December. The students were so happy to share their writing... well look...