High schoolers work with kindergartners

The Connetquot High School ninth-graders squeezed themselves into the small chairs better suited to the Bosti Elementary School kindergartners for a lesson on words that imitate a noise or a sound.

The Friday morning lesson is part of a new program in which a high-school English class buddies up with kindergarten students. Since the start of the year, they've exchanged letters and made collages, but Friday was their first face-to-face meeting.

"It's very good because I like to make new friends," said Cole Castaldo, 5.

Ninth-grader Logan Murphy, 14, said the experience "gives us a sense of responsibility."

Though the Connetquot district's buddy program is new, districts across Long Island -- including Middle Country, East Islip and Lynbrook -- have similar programs. Educators say that both groups benefit, because younger students learn from someone other than their teachers and the older students learn about responsibility and mentoring.

The Lynbrook district, for example, runs a student kindergarten internship program in which high school students serve individually as interns at the Kindergarten Center.

"There is a personal and emotional connection that is created for both the high school students and the kindergarten students," said Ellen Postman, principal of Lynbrook Kindergarten Center

The East Islip School District has a long-running program called Toddler High in which high school juniors and seniors partner for a full year with preschoolers, working together on arts and crafts, reading, numbers and games.

The Bosti Elementary program started after ninth-grade English teacher Ross Castaldo, Cole's father, and kindergarten teacher Jessica King developed a plan after a September parent-teacher night.

It started with letters between the two classes, the students sharing their interests in such things as sports or dance. When they met Friday, a ninth-grader was paired with a kindergartner for two hours.

Alexandra Nuzzo, 14, drew a tap dancer with kindergarten student Gabrielle Himpler.

"You get to see what we learned in kindergarten," Nuzzo said. "I had forgotten what it was like."

The two groups will interact four times over the year and create their own book by the school year's end. In coming months, the kindergarten class will travel to the high school.

"This is something positive that's happening in these classes," said founder Ross Castaldo.