{"id":112103,"date":"2026-07-24T21:15:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T04:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/?p=112103"},"modified":"2026-07-24T21:47:50","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T04:47:50","slug":"while-corte-madera-5th-graders-teach-seniors-to-play-a-game-kids-learn-from-them-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/while-corte-madera-5th-graders-teach-seniors-to-play-a-game-kids-learn-from-them-too\/","title":{"rendered":"While Corte Madera 5th graders teach seniors to play a game, kids learn from them, too"},"content":{"rendered":"

by\u00a0Woody Weingarten, Bay City News<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"(L-R) Cove Elementary fifth grader Nora Zalewski speaks with an \u00c1egis Living Corte Madera resident in Corte Madera, Calif., on Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (Kristy Dell via Bay City News)<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cBINGO! OH,\u00a0YEAH!\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

That could have been anyone yelling at a bingo palace, but this time it was a resident senior at\u00a0\u00c1egis\u00a0Living Center\u00a0in Corte\u00a0Madera.<\/p>\n

In the\u00a0Marin County<\/a>\u00a0assisted living memory care facility, the game\u2019s not all about winning;\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0the basis of a learning exercise.<\/p>\n

Kids from Kristy Dell\u2019s fifth grade class at Cove Elementary School, on field trips, have been teaching the gray-hairs how to play, how to follow the rules and still enjoy the game, while they, in turn, learn how to really talk with old-timers and how to learn from them.<\/p>\n

Dell\u2019s\u00a0brainchild,\u00a0the project\u00a0also\u00a0led her charges to read poetry\u00a0and share artwork\u00a0with\u00a0their elders,\u00a0make\u00a0greeting\u00a0cards for them,\u00a0present a Constitutional\u00a0play\u00a0and\u00a0follow up with a song,\u00a0and\u00a0teach\u00a0and fold origami.<\/p>\n

\"\"(L-R) Elementary student Ben Dell explains how origami works to an \u00c1egis Living Corte Madera resident in Corte Madera, Calif., on Monday, June 1, 2026. (Kristy Dell via Bay City News)<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

All this took place during six different visits last year, and Dell can\u2019t wait for the next semester, which starts in August\u00a0<\/strong>at the East Corte Madera school. Although she believes that a good mix already was provided her 41-student, double-sized class (in which she supervises two other teachers), she\u2019s convinced that the variety of activities can be increased.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd\u00a0I\u2019d like the\u00a0class\u00a0to get more of the residents\u2019 stories,\u201d she says. \u201cThis year, my first of doing it,\u00a0it was very kid-heavy, and I\u2019d like to make it more resident-heavy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dell\u2019s\u00a0son, Ben,\u00a0was in the pilot program.\u00a0\u201cThere was no\u00a0greater joy than seeing the seniors light up upon seeing us,\u201d\u00a0he says.<\/p>\n

Classmate\u00a0Marlowe Uchrin echoes\u00a0the positivity: \u201cI loved\u00a0going to\u00a0\u00c1egis\u00a0because it\u00a0was\u00a0a great way\u00a0to talk with people in our community and learn about the people around me. Looking back on elementary school will be a memory that will stay with me for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the\u00a0senior\u00a0side,\u00a0Nancy Morrow reports that \u201cwhat I liked best was how honest the\u00a0kids\u00a0were, and how willing they were to share their ideas with older people. I thought they were terrific.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Susan Perdiue says \u201cthe best thing about the fifth graders coming here was that they were\u00a0very open, friendly, and polite. They were well prepared, and it was clear that were having fun, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dell had\u00a0accurately\u00a0warned the students upfront that \u201csinging a song or playing bingo may not be as easy as you think it is \u2014\u00a0some seniors<\/a>\u00a0may be grumpy, not hear well, or not move around well, and you may have to make space for wheelchairs, walkers and canes, and learn to remain in what might be an uncomfortable situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

She had the\u00a0kids\u00a0role-play to see how it would work, how their\u00a0behavior could\u00a0have\u00a0a big impact\u00a0on other people,\u00a0and\u00a0how they could\u00a0develop leadership skills.\u00a0She also hoped to weave in what she believed was\u00a0being lost these days \u2014\u202fa sense of morals and ethics.<\/p>\n

She\u00a0wasn\u2019t\u00a0sure, of course, that her intergenerational idea would work. \u201cYou can talk to the kids about something like kindness, conflict resolution, empathy, or good communication skills, but until you put their feet to the fire, you don\u2019t know if they really learn those things.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00c1egis, which sits on East Paradise Drive,\u00a0also\u00a0offers\u00a0residents\u00a0the following, according to its website,\u00a0www.aegisliving.com<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 chef-prepared meals, a full-service salon, a private theater, a library, daily on-site licensed nurses, pet-friendly apartments, and transportation to shops and restaurants, medical appointments, and the Moraga Country Club.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, Dell admits she wasn\u2019t 100% comfortable during the kids\u2019 first visit. That\u2019s because \u201calthough half were all smiles, some were curmudgeonly about having kids in their space. By the end, though, everyone wanted to know when we were coming back.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Kristy Dell teaches class at Cove Elementary School in Corte Madera on Thursday, May 7, 2026. (Angela Roche via Bay City News)<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

One senior\u00a0who\u2019d\u00a0been hesitant at first, she remembers, \u201ccried\u00a0when one of the kids\u00a0gave him a drawing of a car from the 1930s and, not assuming his age, said, \u2018Maybe your parents drove this car.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The kids, who\u00a0also led a holiday toy drive in conjunction with the\u00a0Central Marin Fire\u00a0Department,\u00a0sidestepped potential minor problems.<\/p>\n

Dell and they had decided together that they should do Q&A sessions so residents could throw un-censored questions at them. But one asked, \u201cWhat was the last time you got into trouble and how?\u201d The kids were cautious enough not to reveal any dark secrets and instead \u201canswered about having an extra scoop of ice cream, not brushing their teeth, or not practicing their instrument for 15 minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dell \u201cdidn\u2019t think to warn them not to bring up politics. The facility has a social chair who asked a political question that was a little tricky, and all bandwagoned against Trump.<\/p>\n

\"\"(R-L) Elementary student Marlowe Uchrin sits with an \u00c1egis Living Corte Madera resident during a round of BINGO in Corte Madera, Calif., on Monday, June 1, 2026. (Kristy Dell via Bay City News)<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

That, she added, \u201calso led to a discussion when we got back to class and did a debriefing about never making assumptions about other people\u2019s beliefs about politics, religion, or anything else \u2014 and watching\u00a0out for regurgitating what your parents or older siblings say, or what you overhear from anyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dell\u2019s excitement about how her program worked\u00a0is easily summed up.\u00a0\u201cEverything went smoothly, and my overall take was that the kids were thrilled because a lot of them overcame fears, a lot pushed themselves out of their comfort zones, and a\u00a0lot got to see the instant gratification of what\u00a0can come\u00a0from their kindness, their words, or their action.\u201d<\/p>\n

She, too, learned from the intergenerational sessions \u2014 \u201cthat there\u2019s still good in the world, post-Covid, despite the news being the way it is. The kids found a way they could help, be vulnerable and kind, and see that those actions will pay back ten-fold when it might initially feel cheesy or be something they don\u2019t want to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I learned that I\u00a0can\u00a0foster that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

This article was first published on<\/strong>LocalNewsMatters.org<\/a><\/i><\/strong>, a nonprofit site supported by Bay City News Foundation http:\/\/www.baycitynews.org\/contact\/<\/a><\/i>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Woody Weingarten, a longtime voting member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theater Critics Circle, can be contacted by email at\u00a0voodee@sbcglobal.net<\/i><\/a> or on his websites, https:\/\/woodyweingarten.com<\/i><\/a> and\u00a0https:\/\/vitalitypress.com<\/i><\/a>. His books include <\/em>Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner\u2019s breast cancer<\/em>, aimed at <\/em>male caregivers;\u00a0<\/span>MysteryDates \u2014 How to keep the sizzle in your relationship; The Roving I<\/i>, a compilation of 70 of his newspaper columns; and\u00a0<\/span>Grampy and His Fairyzona Playmates<\/i>, a whimsical fantasy intended for 6- to 10-year-olds that he co-authored with his then 8-year-old granddaughter.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by\u00a0Woody Weingarten, Bay City News (L-R) Cove Elementary fifth grader Nora Zalewski speaks with an \u00c1egis Living Corte Madera resident in Corte Madera, Calif., on Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (Kristy…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"yasr_overall_rating":0,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-112103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-woody-weingarten"],"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":true,"span_bottom":"