First Program students join together every Friday for the traditional House 91, a mission-aligned full campus meeting designed to foster community learning and togetherness. On Friday, September 29, instead of the usual House 91 meeting, First Program administrators once again asked the students to meet their 2017-18 Buddies for the first time. In four or five carefully scheduled sessions each year, each student connects with one student of a different age to form a relationship designed to last for the remainder of the year and beyond. Grade K students buddy with a Grade 3 student, and Grade 1 students buddy with a Grade 2 student.
Teachers across grade levels enjoyed a chance to collaborate and share time with colleagues. Animated conversations fill the classroom, and there are lots of smiles. In last Friday's session, many children came up with adjectives to describe the time spent with their buddies – awesome, fantastic, excellent, super great! Teachers and students look forward to more buddy times throughout the year.
Many third graders fondly remember the experience from their time in K and are eager to be good buddies now in their turn. On their first meeting, after overcoming a bit of shyness, the children seemed quite comfortable being with their buddies. They enjoyed getting to know some new faces in the Dalton community.
This time, there were many activities organized by House Advisors - a third grade House Advisor read a story called “Courage” to the whole group. The buddies split into two groups and had “Choice Time.” A first-grade house had a lot of fun getting acquainted with their second-grade buddies by interviewing each other and recording their answers on a Venn diagram. By the end of their time together, they were happy and looking forward to the next meeting.