First graders met their fifth grade “Big” last Wednesday during their first CDS Bigs and Littles activity time. The peer mentor program is a longstanding tradition at Charleston Day School and is an exciting moment for both the older and the younger group. For the first graders, they now have a connection to a student in an older grade who will look out for them.

For the older student, being a Big is an important responsibility and a way to strengthen leadership skills. It is also an opportunity to start a new friendship. According to the fifth graders, the most important aspects of the job are to make the Little feel recognized and safe and to be a role model in the same way the current fifth graders’ Bigs were for them.

Meeting your Big and Little

The fifth and first grade teachers look for common interests when creating each pair. “The teachers matched me with someone who really likes unicorns like I did when I was in first grade. The teachers remembered!” exclaimed one fifth grader.

“We mostly had all the things in common,” effused a new first grader. The purpose of the first meeting is to become familiar with each other, and the relationship grows throughout the years.

Bigs and Littles Tradition

Our Bigs and Littles program is often mentioned by our graduating eighth graders as one of their favorite CDS memories. In first grade, a student is paired with a fifth grader. The pair stays together throughout the next four years. Whether in first or fifth grade, getting to meet and know your buddy is a special time at CDS. When an eighth-grade group graduates, their former Littles graduate as well into the role of the Big.

Bigs and Littles meet about once a month to read to each other, participate in STEM and robotic activities, sit together at a special assembly, collaborate for a service project, create a holiday craft, or simply play games outside.

Read about more CDS traditions here.