In a collaborative effort, a group of 15 seniors from The Wheatley School provided North Side School fourth-graders with a unique learning experience when they visited their classrooms.
The seniors – who had been studying about New York State and Long Island’s colonial history as part of their Regional Studies class – took on the roles of teachers to provide the fourth-graders with a lesson on colonial New York. The older students led three activities that explored European arrival in the region, the impact of privateers and pirates, and the leadership of Dutch colonial officer Peter Stuyvesant while the fourth-graders worked in small groups and rotated among the stations.
The lessons tapped into the seniors’ knowledge and provided the younger students with an opportunity to learn from former North Side graduates and connect with them about their experience of moving up from North Side to Willets Road and The Wheatley School. Meanwhile, the seniors expressed a new appreciation for teaching elementary school students and enjoyed meeting their former teachers and walking through the school’s hallways.
—Submitted by the East Williston Union Free School District
