Last Friday, 6th graders brought their favorite picture books from home to read to kindergartners. It was a first for this group of Middle Schools students – the first time to be the “older” students at one of MPA’s signature cross divisional activities - the "Pairing Assembly."

Each August, over lunch during workshop week before the start of school, teachers plan for a series of assemblies that will bring students from different age groups together. The focus can be games or reading or other activities, as determined by the teachers. Students in each of the younger grades are paired with students in each of the older grades, such as kindergartners with 6th graders.

Here's what the pairings and locations were for last week's annual reading pairing assembly:

PK/12 in Pre-K room; K/6 in the kindergarten rooms; 1/7 in the 1st grade rooms; 2/8 in the 2nd grade rooms; 3/9 in the 3rd grade rooms; 4/10 in the Upper School Student Commons; and 5/11 in the 5th grade hallway by the library.

The students in the older grades act as mentors and guides for the younger children, either reading stories to them, or listening to budding young readers read to them. "This little guy reads better than I do," a 10th grader was heard to say of a particularly precocious 4th grader last Friday.  

The exchanges can be magical and are a critical part of who we are as a school. And the effects very definitely go both ways, as younger students look up to and want to emulate older students, and older students experience the feeling of being appreciated and valued for their advanced skills.

This year, it’s these 6th graders' first chance at being the mentors to a group of younger students. Just as they pass the much heralded half-way point in their school careers - ask any 6th grader about “half-way day” and what they wear – they “graduate” to being a mentor with valued advanced skills.  

For most kindergartners, reading is very much an advanced skill and our 6th graders rose to the challenge, understanding that, as one 6th grade girl put it, “it’s important because it helps the kindergarteners develop a love of reading.” (That’s an actual quote – I’m not making it up!)

The kindergartners, in turn, shared a skill of theirs for the second half of the activity – dancing. And everyone got involved. I’ll not soon forget the vision of Mr. Reimers demonstrating the “thumbs up, thumbs down, knees together” section of the dance they all learned from their kindergarten pals. Ask him to show you when you see him!

If the excitement in the kindergarten rooms last Friday is any indication, the school was buzzing with cross-grade and cross-divisional engagement as everyone got involved from Pre-K through 12^th grade.

Faculty work hard to make sure that the older students understand their role and are ready to step into positions of real leadership. Given the history that these assemblies have at MPA, many older MPA students remember having been in the younger groups and intuitively understand and accept that role. Besides, "it's fun to be with the little ones," said one sixth grade boy. And I'm not making THAT up either

There are also numerous smaller scale examples of cross-grade and cross-divisional exchanges throughout the year, and the impact of these kinds of activities on the overall culture of the school is quite significant. The sense of a respectful community that bridges generations does not happen by accident and takes time, energy and good planning. .

With the construction of new facilities that have extended some of the distances between the divisions, purposeful events like these that bring us together, whether to share a good book, play a game, sing (or dance!) the school song, go a long way to preserving the special quality of the MPA community.