As part of a cross-grade level initiative called the Buddy Program, fifth-grade students in Christine Wicks’ class have been sharing their love of learning with the kindergarten students in Melissa Martin’s class at Edna Louise Spear Elementary School.

Most recently, they combined their English Language Arts skills to draft letters to Santa as part of the Macy’s Make-A-Wish letter campaign, which donates one dollar to the Make-A-Wish Foundation for every letter it receives.

The older students made a template of a letter and encouraged the younger ones to fill in the words, helping them to sound out letters and assisting them with spelling and ideas for the content.

The two teachers have partnered for close to a decade on having their classes work together and have both seen growth in the school’s program with other classes partnering and more importantly the friendships that are formed and endure throughout the school year.

According to Wicks, together the students experience the skills of communication as the older students learn patience and perseverance and the younger ones are being helped with spelling and sentence structure, a twofold positive outcome for learning.