Hey there! Today, we’re going to talk about something really cool called the AIM Buddy Project. It’s a special program that helps kids learn about feelings and how to get along with others. This is all about social-emotional learning, or SEL for short. Let’s dive in and see what it’s all about!
The AIM Buddy Project is a program from PBS Learning, and it’s designed for kids in kindergarten through fifth grade. The idea is to pair up older students with younger ones. The older kids, called “big buddies,” help the younger ones, known as “little buddies,” through fun activities based on the Arthur cartoon. These activities teach important lessons about feelings and behavior.
Even if you’re not familiar with Arthur, that’s okay! The activities are super fun and involve interactive comics. In these comics, characters face different situations, like deciding whether to tell the truth or a lie. The buddies get to talk about what might happen next and learn from each other.
The AIM Buddy Project covers some really important topics that aren’t always taught in school. You’ll learn about empathy (understanding how others feel), honesty, forgiveness, generosity, and learning from others. These are all great skills to have!
The program includes detailed lesson plans for teachers, with guides for both big and little buddy sessions. There are 20 sessions in total, but you can focus on just one topic if you want, like forgiveness, which has seven sessions. This makes it easier to fit into your schedule.
One of the best parts of the AIM Buddy Project is the mentoring. Older students get to help younger ones, and they both learn a lot from each other. It’s a great way to have important discussions that don’t always happen in regular classes.
If your school wants to try the AIM Buddy Project, it can be done in different ways. It might happen during library time or with two teachers working together. It’s important to plan ahead, but it’s definitely worth it!
There are separate resources for big buddies and little buddies. They start by learning on their own, and then they come together for the activities. Everything is planned out so everyone knows what to expect.
The best part? It’s free! You can find the AIM Buddy Project on PBS Learning. If you’re interested in more reviews and educational tools, visit Common Sense Education at commonsense.org/education. They have lots of great resources to explore.
That’s all for now! We hope you enjoyed learning about the AIM Buddy Project. See you next time!
Feelings Journal: Start a “Feelings Journal” where you can write or draw about your emotions each day. Think about a time when you felt happy, sad, or excited. What happened? How did you react? Share your journal with a friend or family member and discuss how you both handle different feelings. This will help you understand your emotions better and learn how to express them.
Role-Playing Scenarios: With a friend or family member, act out different scenarios where you need to show empathy, honesty, or forgiveness. For example, pretend one of you accidentally broke the other’s toy. How would you feel? What would you say to make things right? This activity will help you practice important social skills in a fun way.
Empathy Walk: Take a walk around your neighborhood or school and observe the people around you. Try to imagine how they might be feeling based on their expressions and actions. Discuss with a friend or family member what you noticed and how you might help someone who looks upset or lonely. This will help you become more aware of others’ feelings and how to respond with kindness.
Here’s a sanitized version of the provided YouTube transcript:
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Hey everybody, this is Chrissy and Tanner from Common Sense Education. We’re the editors at Common Sense Education, and every week we discuss a tool that you may be interested in. Chrissy, it’s your week this week. What are we talking about?
We are going to talk about the AIM Buddy Project and what that actually means. Let me first show you our review. This is a site through PBS Learning that’s all about social-emotional learning (SEL). You can see it’s for grades K-5.
Here is the AIM Buddy Project and our review. Basically, the overview is that you are taking two different levels of students in two different grade bands and pairing them up. The older students mentor the younger students through a set of SEL activities based around the Arthur cartoon. There are interactives that they use during these lessons.
This is a very unique tool. First of all, we’re looking at the PBS site. I thought when you clicked over, we were going to go to a new AIM Buddy Project site, but we just went to PBS, so it’s hosted on PBS.
I was never an Arthur fan as a child; I think it came out after I was a child. But as a mother, I wasn’t into Arthur either. However, I’m very sold on this product, and I’ll tell you why. The SEL topics it covers are not commonly found everywhere. Topics like empathy, honesty, forgiveness, generosity, and learning from others are particularly interesting.
Kids will walk through these interactive comics and come to decision points. For example, in one interactive cartoon, a character named Francine has forgotten her homework assignment and wonders what she should do—whether to tell a lie or tell the truth. At these decision points, the buddies can discuss the possible consequences.
The lesson plans are very specific and thorough, with complete educator guides. There are both little buddy sessions and big buddy sessions, leading up to the actual meetings. One drawback is that it’s time-intensive; there are 20 classroom sessions in total. However, if you wanted to focus on just one topic, like forgiveness, that would be more manageable with seven sessions.
The mentoring between older and younger students is valuable and can be powerful, fostering discussions that we don’t often get to facilitate. If teachers are interested, there are research findings that discuss the efficacy of this program, which is somewhat rare in the SEL space.
How do you imagine this playing out? Would this be something like a library and media specialist would implement since it requires mixed ages?
Yes, ideally, if you could get the whole school involved, that would be great. Library time would work, and if two teachers paired up to do this together, that would also be effective. There are many different ways to implement it, but it would definitely require preparation and time.
Are there separate resources for the little buddies and the big buddies? Do they do solo work, or is it all collaborative?
There are solo and separate sections. First, the little buddies and big buddies are introduced to what this will entail separately, and then they come together. It’s all planned out thoughtfully so that kids are prepared for what they’re about to do.
It’s a free tool for SEL published by PBS Learning, so check it out. You can see this review and many others at Common Sense Education, which is commonsense.org/education. We will be back next week and every week thereafter with this video series.
See you next week!
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This version removes informal language, laughter, and any potentially inappropriate comments while maintaining the core content and message.
