Middle Gate Elementary School lead teacher John Sullivan handed out cards to kindergartners at the start of lunch on Friday, February 26, to help them "mix it up."

The "Mix It Up Day" was the second held at the school this year, and Mr Sullivan said it encouraged students to sit and speak with students who they normally do not speak to.

The cards Mr Sullivan handed out showed students which table to sit at for lunch, and on each table "conversation cards" were ready with ideas on how to being talking with one another. The Mix It Up Days, Mr Sullivan said, were created in response to students sharing questions about how to make new friends.

For the kindergarten students, teachers helped facilitate reading the cards and the follow-up dialogue, but the older grade levels, Mr Sullivan said, used the cards without help.

After the first Mix It Up Day, Mr Sullivan said students filled out response sheets and those were used to coordinate the February 26 event.

One response from the first event read, "[I feel] like I want to do this again. This was the best lunch yet! At least that is what I think! [I wonder] why I never thought about sitting with new people. That was pretty cool hearing things about themselves."

Another response read, "[I feel] that it was a fun lunch, and I would be fine to do it again. [I wonder] if they enjoyed the lunch too?"

One conversation card, read by a teacher to kindergarteners, asked, "What is your favorite thing to each at lunch?"

The first quick response from a kindergartener was, "Bacon." Others smiled and then shared their favorite things to eat at lunch.