January, 28, 1999
"Kinder Buddies" program a hit
By Cathy Willoughby
Staff Writer
The children were huddled together, heads almost touching, concentrating on the task at hand. They were sorting seashells, keys, colored beads and other small items.
It was one in a series of activities on which the kindergarten students were working Thursday morning with the help of the fourth grade classroom at McCutchenville Elementary. They are participating in the "Kinder Buddies'' program, begun three years ago by fourth grade teacher Lynda Weininger and kindergarten teacher Margaret Ardner.
"When we started it three years ago, we decided we liked it well enough to keep it,'' Weininger said. "The idea was to cover the objectives in the fourth grade course of study, to reinforce what the fourth graders have already learned.''
The students have shared their knowledge with the kindergartners on several areas, including letter recognition, making crafts that emphasize the letter being learned, and reading and writing skills, such as writing letters to Santa for the younger pupils.
All the activities emphasize skills the fourth graders need to demonstrate on their proficiency tests.
"The fourth graders have to know how to write a friendly letter for proficiencies,'' Weininger said of the letters to Santa.
She said the fourth graders are good tutors for the younger children. "They are helping them with concepts that are difficult for their age level,'' she explained. "Concepts such as measuring, time and money. And that by doing these things with them, the fourth graders are reviewing things they need to know for the proficiencies.''
The classes meet first thing Thursday morning for a half hour. Each fourth grader draws a name of a younger child out of a hat, to allow the children to interact with each other as much as possible.
"It's fun, and you get to teach somebody,'' fourth grader Kent Fredritz said. Ashley Sharp agrees, ''I like it because when they don't understand something, then they learn it.''
"It's fun to just help them learn,'' said Michael Kelly. "At the start, they mostly have no clue. By the end, they are doing most of the work.''
The fourth graders most enjoyed making hot air balloons, pumpkins with painted faces, and turkey cookies at Thanksgiving. And the kindergarten has reciprocated, having given them a Halloween gift of ghost magnets. At Christmas, the fourth graders made each child in kindergarten an "ABC Christmas Book'' and read it to them.
Kindergartners were equally enthusiastic about working with the fourth graders.
"I like it when we do activities and stuff,'' said Eric Turpin. "Like making turkeys out of cookies. You could eat it, too. And once we made a hot air balloon because it starts with the letter 'H'.''
The bonds the two classrooms of children are forming help both of them feel better about themselves.
"I like it when you ask them for a hug,'' said fourth grader Beth Price. "They just go up and hug you.''
Weininger could attest to the affection between the two classes. "They will be walking through the building, and one of the kindergartners will come up and give them a hug, or slap hands with them.''