In a classroom with three grade levels are included, an effective way to integrate new children into the classroom community is through the use of mentors and apprentices. These two-person (and sometimes three) teams have activities to do occasionally, but more importantly, provide a go-to person for the new students in class who may feel intimidated and not sure who to ask for questions or help. Additionally, the mentors get to be leaders to younger children, which they seem to always appreciate!

Prior to introducing these pairs, we would create the mentor and apprentice teams to make sure there was a good personality fit. Typically we would pair a child starting the 3rd year in the class with an incoming student. (e.g. 3rd grader with a 1st grader, or 6th grader with a 4th grader). Sometimes there needed to be groups of 3, of course, based on the numbers.

As a whole group, we would announce the mentor and apprentice groups so they could immediately connect. We also would have a planned activity that the mentors could show their apprentices something after they were introduced (such as where to turn in homework, the process for checking out a book from the classroom library, or where to find language materials).

Over the course of the first few months of school, there would be various opportunities for mentors and apprentices to spend time together. By the later part of fall and into winter, the children were pretty well adjusted, felt comfortable in the classroom,  and had made friends, so planned paired activities seemed less necessary. But it was always fun to see mentors and apprentices choose to work together or have a good friendship that started as a result of their initial pairing!