School families have fun

Family time traditions continue at Patrick M. Villano School this year.

“I like that you get to meet new people and spend time with them,” Sophia Centeno, a sixth-grader, said. 

Each staff member is assigned a student family. The family is a small group of third through sixth grade students.  The idea is that every student gets to know another student from a different grade. Centeno says, “Hi,” to her school family members in the hallways.

“I believe it boosts people’s confidence, so you do not feel so awkward,” Centeno explained. 

School families meet on the last Friday of each month for a short character education activity to promote teamwork and friendship. Activities include building towers from pipe cleaners. Some older students miss the individual with a single buddy from another grade, but now the feeling seems to be that the more interactive group work is just as fun. Christopher Pinto-Spiegel, a sixth-grader, remembers having a buddy when he was in third grade.

“I like them both. I like the buddies because you get to do activities one on one,” Pinto-Spiegel said. “Families are fun too because you get to do a bunch of group activities.”