Leaf Painting In Kindergarten

Friday afternoons are quickly becoming one of my favourite times of the week. As our kindergarten class continues to work on our learning goal of building a school community we have begun to meet weekly with our grade 3 big buddy class to create nature crafts together. I have been working on building a predictable framework for these weekly visits. One buddy (sometimes the Kindergarten, sometimes the third grader) teaches the other buddy the activity. Then through discussion they make a plan, divide up the work and together create the artifact. When done, the kindergarten students get their personal book tub to have the older buddy read to them in a quiet corner of the classroom.
This week as the children were working in two classrooms with their big buddy they each had a leaf to paint and decorate. As they worked together they were getting to know each other, talking about sports, play and family. It was such an honour to observe the students obviously enjoying each other's company while working together on a small project.
What are you doing at your school to build community?