5th Graders Partner With Younger Students to Build Community

Since 2020, CAJ teachers have dedicated much of their professional development time to learning about Teaching for Transformation, an educational framework that encourages them to create formational learning experiences (FLEx). The goal of FLEx is to allow students to do “real work that meets a real need for real people.”

One example of this is the “Jump Rope Buddies” program, where 5th grade math students are able to apply their data analysis lessons to help younger students.

In the fall of 2021, 5th grade teachers Julie Johnson (‘06) and Ranaye Prevatt, in collaboration with elementary PE teacher Jared Johnson (‘11), developed a FLEx activity that connected the 5th graders’ math lessons to elementary PE class. The result was the Jump Rope Buddies program.

“It’s cool to see the special relationships built between the 5th graders and their younger buddies.”

About once per quarter, elementary PE students assess their jump rope progress. Each 5th grade student partners with a younger elementary student to count how many successful jumps they can complete in one minute. The 5th graders then take the data back to class, graph it, and perform various statistical analyses on the numbers.

This project serves multiple purposes: it helps the 5th graders practice math skills, develop leadership, and build meaningful relationships with younger students by offering encouragement and advice.

Julie Johnson shared, “One of my favorite things is seeing the 5th graders step up as leaders in a variety of ways, such as by untangling jump ropes, comforting a disappointed student, and cheering on their buddies as they jump. It’s cool to see the special relationships built between the 5th graders and their younger buddies.”

Since the program began four years ago, Jared Johnson has noticed more interaction between older and younger elementary students in general.

“The older and younger students both benefit from spending quality time together,” Jared Johnson said. “I hope we can keep finding more learning opportunities like this across all divisions.”