Parent Teacher Magazine Union County Public Schools Nov/Dec 2017 | Page 10

Indian Trail Elementary students mix it up at lunch to promote kindness and inclusion
When Indian Trail
Fourth grade student
Elementary (ITES) student
Grace Griffin, who said
Makiya Beckford walked
she’s in a combination
into her school’s cafeteria
class of fourth and fifth
on Oct. 13, she immediately
graders, said she was
knew something was
a little nervous to eat
different. The tables, which
lunch with a group of
were now numbered,
fifth graders. But after
included a card that had
several minutes, fifth-
conversation prompts
grade student Abby
encouraging the students
Griffin sat near Grace
to share information about
Griffin at the table and
themselves.
immediately introduced
Makiya said she started
herself.
to get a little nervous when
“At first I was a little
she was ushered to sit at
nervous because I don’t
a table with a group of
know how it’s going to
students that she didn’t
turn out,” Abby said.
know very well. But by the
“But I think I’m more
end of lunch, she walked
excited than anything
back to her class having
else because now I get
made new connections, and
to meet new people that
possibly, a few new friends.
I’ve never met. This is
ITES Guidance Counselor Amber Heine said the Mix It Up at Lunch provided the
“The Mix It Up Lunch was perfect opportunity for the school to promote kindness and inclusion in honor of
going to be a lot of fun.”
—This article was
so much fun,” she said. “My
National Bullying Prevention Month.
provided by the Union
favorite part about it was
County
Public
Schools
Communications
Office.
getting a chance to make new friends. I was a little nervous at first,
but I can’t wait to do it again.”
Mix It Up at Lunch Day is an international campaign that
encourages students to identify, question and cross social
ration!
boundaries. With students consistently identifying cafeterias as a
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Use code AGA1
place in their school where divisions are clearly drawn, the Mix It Up
at Lunch Day helps students move out of their comfort zones and
connect with someone new during lunch.
ITES Guidance Counselor Amber Heine said the Mix It Up at
Lunch provided the perfect opportunity for the school to promote
kindness and inclusion in honor of National Bullying Prevention
Month. And, she added, it also allowed students to expand on
the fifth Leader in Me habit: Seek First to Understand, Then to be
Understood.
“I told the students that they have two goals: the first is to make
new friends,” she said. “And the second, because some of them know
all of the kids at their table, was to learn something about someone
else that they didn’t know before to develop some empathy for other
people.”
Acknowledging that some of the youngest elementary school
ENRICHMENT CLASSES
students were able to make new friends easily, Amber said that
MATH ENGLISH
she was still extremely impressed with how well the fourth and fifth
graders adapted to the Mix It Up at Lunch.
Individual Attention Highly Educated Teachers
After a successful inaugural Mix It Up at Lunch Day, Amber said
Small Classes Outstanding Year-Round Curriculum
she hopes the Mix it Up at Lunch Day will be an annual event at ITES.
“We’d like to continue it year after year,” she said. “With our
Leader in Me, we usually have student roles and would have them
put together a committee, so our goal is to make it be student-led
next year.”
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As Makiya and her new friends cleared their lunch table, a new
agradeahead.com/waxhaw
group of fourth and fifth grade students were immediately ushered
into the cafeteria.
AFTER SCHOOL
8 • Nov/Dec 2017 • Parent Teacher Magazine