Meeting 1 Plan

OVERVIEW:

In this initial meeting the student will meet his/her Grandbuddy. This meeting will take place on school premises. Planned activities consist of a classroom and school tour, conducting an interview, "When You Were My Age" with prepared questions, a photo session, and exchange of e-mail addresses for between meeting correspondence.

Appropriate for Grade Level: K-3 (May be adapted for older students.)

 

MATERIALS:

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PRE-MEETING PREPARATION:

  1. Prior to the arrival of the older adult partners, review the Checklist of Activities with students. Instruct students to make a check mark next to each item on the list when they have completed the task.

  2. Read the questions on the Interview Sheet out loud to the class and review the process for taking notes to record their partner's answers.

  3. Remind students that they should speak clearly when conducting the interviews and use good listening skills when their Grandbuddy is speaking.

  4. As a group, brainstorm some ideas for introducing yourself to your older adult partner. Do you have pets? What do you like to do for fun? How many people are in your family? What is your favorite subject in school? What are some of your favorite toys?

  5. Provide each student with a name-tag printed clearly with his/her name.

  6. Provide each student with a clipboard containing the Meeting 1 Checklist and "When You Were My Age" Interview Sheet along with a pencil for note-taking.

ACTIVITY 1 - Meeting the Grandbuddies:

  • The teacher will meet each older adult partner at the door to the classroom, providing each with a name tag printed clearly with his/her name and make the introduction between the student and Grandbuddy.

  • Students will lead the Grandbuddies to a pre-determined location in the classroom and converse with their partners (using some of the ideas for introducing themselves previously brainstormed) while waiting for further instructions from the teacher.

  • When the entire group has gathered the teacher will give a brief talk about the planned activities before suggesting that the partners begin touring the classroom and school.

ACTIVITY 2 - Touring the Classroom:

  • Students will show their Grandbuddies items of interest in the classroom. These may include: the student's desk or table, classroom computers, class pets, etc.

ACTIVITY 3 - Touring the School:

  • Students will conduct a tour of the school premises. Places they may want to show their Grandbuddies are: Gym, Cafeteria, Library, Playground, etc.

ACTIVITY 4- Interview Grandbuddy:

  • Students and Grandbuddies return to the student's desk or table and complete the questions on the "When You Were My Age" Interview Sheet.

ACTIVITY 5- Photo Session:

  • Teachers take a photograph of each Grandbuddy pair using either a digital or film camera. These photos will be used in the Memory Book to be presented at the end of the project.

ACTIVITY 6- Exchange E-Mail Addresses:

  • Teachers will pass out previously prepared slips of paper with both partner's e-mail addresses printed clearly on them to the participants and speak briefly about possible electronic correspondence between meetings.

ACTIVITY 5- Thank You and Good-bye:

  • Teachers will make any announcements to the group regarding future activities and take any questions participants may have before departing. Students thank their Grandbuddies for visiting.

Follow-Up:

  • Teacher will initiate whole group sharing of experiences with the Grandbuddies.

  • Student will begin work on the book about his/her Grandbuddy using the Story Starter: "When my Grandbuddy was my age. . ." referring to the notes from the "When You Were My Age" Interview Sheet and illustrate the story.

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