Sally Secchio

Secchio's "Buddies" project pairs second- and fourth-grade students once every six days to work on four thematic hands-on teaching activities, culminating in a learning event: Team Building (ending with Adventure Woods); Measurement (pumpkin patch visit and carving); Poetry Safari (a zoo trip); and Manners Madness (a formal restaurant visit). The students also visit developmentally delayed children at a local preschool program. For each visit they prepare a play, practice reading a story, and develop two learning activities. This promotes reading skills, helps students coordinate different points of view, and helps them see relationships among ideas, problems, and questions.