Student: Oh, this is how to make the first one.

Student: Some raw materials are—

Aneesah Blount: Over the past two, two and a half years, it’s been a time where students haven’t been able to be together, and so some of those social aspects that we would usually see fostered at school weren’t really being fostered because they were at home, and so our classroom buddies helped build their social-emotional learning and development.

Classroom Buddy: Excited to read today?

Student: Yeah!

Blount: Wednesdays are Creative Wednesdays. Our principal gave us the power to choose if those were days we wanted to do different projects, go on field trips, different excursions, have experts come in, do free choice centers to help with our students’ academic and social-emotional learning.

Blount: Our Creative Wednesdays include Classroom Buddies. We partner with a third-grade class, and during this we meet with them from 2:30 to 3:00.

Boy: Reduce.

Boy: Right.

Boy: Recycle.

Blount: Thinking about who to pair is always an important thing that we took a lot of time. So really thinking about who would be good buddies.

Girl: Here. Here’s a ribbon.

Girl: Thank you.

Girl: You’re welcome, Mackenzie.

Blount: Who would be a good example? Who would help bring some of the students who are a little shy out of their shell?

Girl: You want to go hide and seek?

Girl: Yes.

Blount: Who would help, you know, mellow some students out?

Girl: Chapter 3.

Blount: The first two sessions they actually did Getting to Know You book. So they did Buddy Books, where they got to know their buddies, did interviews, talked about their favorite things.

Blount: Currently in our classroom we are studying conservation, and so with this afternoon, the third-grade students read books about air pollution with their partners.

Boy: Making cow or cans cause pollution.

Blount: Everybody ready?

Students: Yes.

Blount: Set. Build.

Blount: After reading the book, they started to create rubber band propeller cars.

Blount: Make sure that both you and your partner are able to put together your car.

Boy: So then we need to glue them together.

Blount: We’re going to complete the project next week, and then we’ll test them, and after we test them next week, we’ll give them a chance to go back and see if there’s anything they want to change, fix, or add to their car to make it go further and faster.

Girl: This is our…

Blount: For the older students, knowing that someone is looking up to them, they want to be a positive role model for their buddy. For the little buddies, we’ve seen they get that one-on-one reading.

Boy: That’s actually sand.

Blount: They also have someone that they know that is in an upper grade in the school. They’re always excited to see their big buddies in the hallway. They love to wave to them. We’ve seen a lot of academic and social-emotional benefits for both groups.

Girl: This is going to be the best car ever I have seen.

Schools That Work

Van Ness Elementary School