MENTORSHIP AND BUILDING STRONG SCHOOL COMMUNITY TIES
To be a mentor is to be an experienced and trusted advisor. It’s giving encouragement, advice, and time to someone who hasn’t yet been where you’ve gone.
Our 5th-grade students are doing just that at the Lower School as we create time for them to invest in Pre-K students through a mentorship program! Each year our fifth graders look forward to being paired with their PreK buddy for the school year, to learn from each other, and to have fun investing in our youngest students before the big move to Middle School.
The first meet and greet included time for the 5th graders to interview the little guys to get to know them better which included questions like, “what size shoes do you wear? What’s your favorite color? And which food do you love most?”. Each 5th-grader got to use this information to compare with their own answers to the same questions, which further builds rapport as similarities and differences are shared! This may seem like a simple thing to do, but we’re watching it develop our students’ communication and connection skills with others and that’s such a fun thing to see grow!
Following interviews, both grades enjoy some playtime together on the PreK playground! This year “Ring Around the Rosie” has been a big hit. Each time that we get together our goals are strengthening community ties, and teaching our students how to look out for others, how to think about kids who are younger than themselves. Our hope is that this builds confidence in our Pre-K students, and leadership and kindness in our 5th-graders.
Our peer mentorship program is just one of the many incredible opportunities for our students to connect across grades. We believe that a large part of building character, leadership skills, and communication skills lies in the way we model interaction and create space for that to happen on our campus and throughout our school day.
One of our key verses at Brook Hill is 1 Timothy 4:12, “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity.” For our 5th-graders, we’re showing them that they’re never too young to invest in kids younger than themselves!
The pictures below are just a snapshot of the fun had with two of our classes, Mrs. Savage’s Fifth Grade class, and Mrs. Chesley’s PreK class!