Davis Joint Unified School District

Ms. Z teaches some of the youngest T/K and Kinder students in the SPARK program at Birch Lane. Ms. Z has noticed that her students seem to stay in the same social groups every day and she was looking for a way to help them work and play with different classmates. She came up with The Buddy System, which she recently implemented. Students are assigned a new ‘Buddy’ each week and during specific parts of the day, they partner up. For example, before heading to the playground, ‘buddies’ must line up together and decide what activity they would like to do together despite their differing opinions, skills, and strengths. ‘Buddies’ assumes shared responsibility during quiet time by reminding each other to keep their volume level at 1 or 2. During art activities, two ‘buddy’ teams are put together to make a team of four and they must complete their tasks effectively while showing respect and empathy. Ms. Z has already seen some improvements in students getting to know each other and getting out of their comfort zones. Even our youngest learners can start the process of becoming ‘life ready collaborators.’
__________________________________________________________________________________

“Students don’t realize that they have many of the same interests because they don’t spend time getting to know each other. They buddy system forces them out of their comfort zone and then end up discovering their shared interests.”
- Ms. Zumwalt (SPARK Teacher)
__________________________________________________________________________
“I am happy to be with Maggie. I get to play and eat with her and even look at books together.”
- Rhea

“We learned that we both love pets and worked together to make a home for the (Lego) pets”
- Theo and Autumn