It was an occasion for the big kids to collaborate with the little ones.
Thomas County Central High School students in Cindy Carnes’ Early Childhood Education classes visited Hand-In-Hand Primary School Thursday, Dec. 7. They read books, handed out special snacks, and spent quality time with the wee yellow jackets.
“Our unit is collaborating with children,” Carnes said. “It was a group effort. Students created props [for their stories] and purchased snacks.”
Freshman Chatham Josey, 14, said the trip helped teach her “how to deal with children” and gave her real experience with the lessons she’s learned in class. Her favorite part of the trip was snack time because “it was very interactive.”
Kindergarten teacher Megan Towell said her students love having other youth interact with them.
“It gives the Hand-In-Hand students a chance to see good role models and have a fun story time, which they love,” she said of the TCCHS students’ visit. “Getting to make a snack is so fun, and it gets the attention of all the students. All senses get involved and it makes for a great, fun learning experience.”
Kindergarten teacher Stephanie Connally said her class enjoyed the high schoolers’ visit.
“The class gets to have a fresh experience with different people and a new activity with a familiar book,” she said. “The students were able to use their fine motor muscles and their creativity in creating their reindeer snack. The class was excited about making a snack. We rarely have opportunities to incorporate food, so this was special.”
After the lesson and snack, kindergarten and high school students involved got to interact through a variety of fun tasks such as taking part in “specials” activities, playing educational games, reading books, and simply chatting to get to know each other.
Kindergarten student Jullian Wynn, 6, liked ringing the bell for Santa and playing with the high school kids.
Freshman Jaylen Samuel, 15, said his favorite part of the experience was reading to the kids and helping them read.
“I learned that little kids have a lot more knowledge than I realized,” he said. “One of the kids knew a lot about spiders, and they all know how to communicate as well as we do.”
Kindergartner Cali Anderson, 6, found the high school students to be “really nice and helpful” and the trip made her happy. Her favorite part of the day was reading the book “Go Car! Go!”
“It had a dog in it, and I didn’t even know dogs could drive,” Anderson said.
Carnes said classroom visits like this one work. She believes her students learn about working together, coming out of their shells, and using creative expressions outside the world of daily technology.
Students will now evaluate themselves and the involved teachers at HNH have also evaluated them.
“We will know what to tweak before going to Garrison-Pilcher in the spring,” she said.