Home Program Cross-Grade Connections
Cross-grade connections at Park Day School create meaningful relationships that enrich our entire K-8 community. Through intentionally designed buddy programs, mixed-age learning experiences, and community gatherings, students develop authentic mentoring relationships that span grade levels. Peer mentoring is a powerful tool that creates a more connected, stronger school community.
For our youngest students, having an older friend on the playground helps usher a sense of belonging. They have someone who will greet them at lunch, give a quick high five in passing, or act as an audience for a make believe performance at the Purple Stage. Remembering how it felt to be the littlest kids on the playground helps hone empathy in our older students, and positions them as mentors and leaders.
To help set the scene for relationship building between the grades, our “reading buddy” program matches Kindergartners with 3rd graders, 1st graders with 4th graders, and 2nd graders with 5th graders. When it comes to literacy, reading regularly with a slightly older peer has a positive influence on student learning. Likewise, students who are growing into themselves as middle-grade readers find that their confidence increases when reading to a younger child. Reading Buddies meet regularly to share books and a love of literature.
The kindergarten-6th grade buddy program connects our youngest learners with middle schoolers through play and storytelling. The relationship begins with joyful play based interactions, and then transforms as our 6th graders take on a special writing project in their English Language Arts class – creating personalized children’s books for their kindergarten buddies. This authentic writing experience allows middle schoolers to craft stories with their young friends in mind. Kindergartners delight in receiving books written especially for them by their trusted big buddies.
Middle school students from our affinity groups – including Black/African American, Asian American/ Pacific Islander/South Asian, Latin/a/e/o/x (Somos Cultura), Multi-racial, and Jewish groups – connect with younger students through shared stories and cultural celebration. As older students read and connect with their young buddies, they create meaningful mentorship relationships while celebrating shared heritage and experience. These special partnerships allow students to see themselves reflected in both literature and leadership, strengthening our community’s commitment to belonging.
The After School Activities Program creates vibrant spaces where students across grade levels come together to learn, play, and grow. In mixed-age enrichment classes and during free play, students connect as they explore shared interests and build natural mentoring relationships. These relationships extend into the school day, where you’ll often spot older and younger friends greeting each other warmly or looking out for one another on the playground, strengthening our caring community beyond classroom walls.
Students gather as a K-8 community during regular Assemblies and Community Shares. We share music together, celebrate academic milestones, cultural and historical events, and support each other as different classes and students take turns presenting and showcasing what they’ve been working on to the whole school.