We participate annually in the Teaching Tolerance Mix It Up at Lunch Day held each fall. The Student Services staff organizes this activity which includes all our students in grades 1-5. We try a different way to sort the students on a rotating basis. Last year we used various colors of jelly bracelets. This year we had 5 colors of pencils engraved with "Mix IT Up Day 2014" and gave a pencil to each child as they entered the cafeteria. They sat at a table that had a sign with the color that matched their pencil. We had sticky notes on the tables and as they talked with a student they don't normally sit with or know well, they wrote down a few facts they learned. For example, Noah plays hockey and the trombone. These served as their exit tickets. When they left the cafeteria they gave their sticky note to a student services staff member to be placed on the giant pencil on the windows of the cafeteria and got to keep the pencil as a souvenir and a reminder to tell their parents about this activity. To learn more check out this site tolerance.org/mix-it-up
