The First Day with our Dixon Buddies

I was so excited for our big buddies to come on Friday! It is one of my favourite ongoing programs. The buddy program allows for so much learning for everyone involved. The big buddies learn how to be caring, patient and responsible. The little buddies learn how to be brave and make a new friend, connect with other children on a new level and develop new ideas. And, let's not forget us teachers- we are always learning as well. I am privileged to work with a teacher who shares similar philosophies around education and learning. This is our second year partnering together and I am thrilled to work alongside Mr. Vines. This year the elementary buddies are combined Grade 5 & 6 students.

Our first visit together is always interesting. After general introductions, we pair the children with their buddies. The big buddies almost outnumber us 2:1, so most of the little buddies have two big buddies. I love this moment- the introduction! Understandably, each child is slightly cautious about this new relationship and unsure of what to do, what to say, how to be. Having been a part of this journey for so many years, I can look ahead and know that each time they meet, the relationship will grow deeper. I recently bumped into some big buddies who are now in secondary school and reported that they had seen their little buddy in the community! Oh, how I love these connections!

After our introductions we got to work at our stations which were:

Threshing wheat (this activity is in preparation of our farm visit in two weeks-stay tuned!)
Shelling scarlet runner beans
Cleaning garlic
Framing a leaf ( a real one) and thinking about a Thanksgiving message (what are we grateful for in our lives)

The level of engagement was high in all of these activities and the room was bubbling with energy! As we know, food is a way of connecting with others so in the morning I made a huge amount of homemade popcorn for all to share. As pieces were being gobbled up, conversations ensued and soon the room seemed to be filled with one group of people, not two. Lovely!

About a month ago I read about a school teacher who was planning on trying a " genius hour" with his students. Based on a model used in many large companies, the idea is that people are given a certain amount of time to explore a topic that interests them, often unrelated to work. I was inspired to try it with my preschoolers, as a way to build on our already emergent curriculum. And, then the idea came to me to try it with our buddies. I introduced the idea to Mr. Vines.... and, as a testament how aligned we are as mentioned before, he said to me that he was just discussing this in one of his university classes. Perfect! We jumped at the idea to try it together and began to chat about what it would look like.

So, after popcorn eating we began.... Genius 15! Each time we meet this school year, our buddies will participate in Genius 15. They will get 15 minutes ( an hour is too long for this crew!) to investigate an area of interest. On our first day, students were tasked with creating a list of 5 topics that interested the group members. From this list, they were asked to choose one area of inquiry followed by questions about that topic. The idea being that they attempt to answer some of these questions for our next visit or bring something related to the topic, or bring more questions! We do not know how long these inquiries will take but therein lies the beauty. Like the students, Kevin and our preschool teaching team will discover new ways of working together and find ways to bridge the learning.