Planning Your Program At-a-Glance To ensure that students get the most out of AIM, the sessions have been designed so that buddies first become familiar with the program and begin to feel comfortable talking together during three buddy prep sessions. The first two prep sessions take place separately in the buddies’ home classrooms. Prep Session 1: Getting Ready to Meet Your Buddy (45 minutes) This session is led by teachers in separate classrooms. Buddies are introduced to the program, discuss different emotions in order to develop a vocabulary of feelings, and create a “Who Am I?” project that will help their buddies get to know them. Prep Session 2: Training the Buddies (30–45 minutes for Little Buddies, 20–45 minutes for Big Buddies) This session is led by teachers in separate classrooms. Students prepare for their buddy roles as they discuss what to expect and what it means to be a Little Buddy or Big Buddy, and explore being a buddy as they practice with a classmate. Prep Session 3: Meet and Greet (20–30 minutes) This session is led by both teachers in a combined classroom. The buddies meet and share their “Who Am I?” projects. After the prep sessions, each of the topics is explored in three topic-related sessions that focus on the interactive feature. Topic Buddy Session I: Introduction (30–45 minutes for Little Buddies, 20–45 minutes for Big Buddies) The first session takes place in separate classrooms. Little Buddies are introduced to and discuss the topic, preview the story or game, and learn key vocabulary. Big Buddies discuss the topic in more depth in order to prepare them to lead the discussion with their Little Buddies. Big Buddies are also introduced to the interactive feature and practice playing the game or listening to the story with a classmate. (Note: Big Buddy sessions may take longer in the beginning, but become shorter as students become more familiar with the technology and their Little Buddies.)
12 Big and Little Buddies: Planning Your Program
