Our buddy program has been a well-loved part of our school community for many years. Our youngest students in Pre-K are paired with buddies in third grade. These friendships continue over the next few years as kindergarten students buddy with 4th grade and 1st and 5th grade students are partnered. In this configuration, 2nd grade has always been in the middle. Though they don’t pair off with another grade, they’ve always enjoyed the unique privilege of caring for class pets…until now.
This year, our second grade students have begun a new buddy program with friends down the street in the JCC preschool. We have been reading stories, 
playing games, and building close relationships with our new friends. Every few weeks, we have walked down to visit their nursery school. Last week, for the first time, our preschool friends visited us here at JCDS! We introduced them to our class pets Bugsy the guinea pig and Gizmo the bearded dragon. We showed our friends how to feed the animals and we played a lot of games!
Buddy relationships teach older children to care for younger children and allow them to practice being role models. We are excited about this special new partnership!
