English Lesson - Friendship is... Wreath

-
"Friendship is" was the first of two lessons discussing the meaning of friendship. It is a lesson that was designed for the the unit Don't Need Friends, as it fits into the book's overall theme. During the lesson, children had the opportunity to think about what friendship meant to them, after a friendship themed read aloud. It was apparent during the think-pair-share that students were not thinking exactly along the same vein as me, and that it was okay. Despite the fact that some of their answers did not appear to answer the question I had posed, they had obviously understood the themes and were interpreting the book in their own way.

This lesson shows Commitment to Students and Student Learning since it students were eager to learn. It also reinforced the meaning of certain peer relationships, and connected student experiences to their day to day life.


Overall and Specific Expectations

Language
1. generate, gather, and organize ideas and information to write for an intended purpose and audience
1.2 generate ideas about a potential topic using a variety of strategies and resources
2.1 write short texts using a few simple forms

Social Studies – Relationships

• identify people with whom they have significant relationships, and the rules and responsibilities associated with people, places, and events in their lives and communities
identify important relationships in their lives (e.g., with family members, friends,pets, teachers) and name some responsibilities that are part of these relationships

Enduring Understanding/Big Idea

Students will practice writing a poem and investigate the qualities of a good friend.
This activity will be followed up by a drama and dance performance, using the poem that the class has collectively written.

Critical Consciousness
Students explore the relationship of friendship in particular the qualities of a good friend.

Minds on
Inform students that today we will be talking about friendship and what it is to be a friend. Show students the book My Best Friend by Mary Ann Rodman, and tell them the book really spoke to you, about what makes a true friend.
Remind students that pictures can tell a story. Ask students to look at the cover, than ask students to tell you about it.

Question - What can we predict about this story, by looking at the cover?

Action

Proceed to read the story with the think aloud. At the end of the story tell students that you will be doing knee partners, students will be told to think about this book and their friends and posed the question – “At the end of the story, Lily found a true friend in Keesha. Think about your own friends, and this story book. What are the qualities of a good friend?”

Ask students to choose an A, ask student A to hold up their hand, to confirm that each group has chosen an A and a B. Start the think-pair-share. Give A 30 seconds, then tell the groups to switch and B gets 30 seconds. Then ask the class to share what they have discussed.

After this discussion has occurred, tell students that today you will be writing a friendship poem. Most of the poem will already be written on the blackboard, and students need to volunteer to fill in the blanks with some things they have just said. Students will volunteer and teacher will write the words in the blanks. The teacher and students will then write the poem together, and then read the poem together one or two times.
Questions:
If Lily gets a new bathing suit, what will happen?
I wonder if Lily can make friends with Tamika. What do you think? I want more than just a yes or a no, I really want to know what you think!
How does Tamika treat Lily?
Tell me about this picture.
What did you discuss with your knee partner?
Consolidation
Students will be reminded what a wreath is. Students will that the class will be making a friendship wreath, which can be hung on the wall when complete. Every student will contribute to the wreath by tracing their hand, writing their name and then one sentence from the friendship poem. Tell students to choose the sentence that is most meaningful for them. Students will return to their desks and complete the activity. Before they can hand in their hand, they must read their sentence for the teacher.
Questions

What sentence is the most meaningful for you?
What is the meaning of a wreath?
How can we show friendship to others?



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Building a Community with Essential Services

-
Image
 As a part of our Grade 2 "How we Organize Ourselves" unit, students chose an essential service, created an essential service with clay and then researched that essential service. They also had to justify why they felt that service was essential to the community.  After students made their essential service, they considered which other elements were needed for their community. As a class we then co-constructed the community together. After the community was made, I introduced different variables and scenarios. For example "a robber appears" which had an easy solution as we had a police station. "A house is on fire," is another problem our community could solve as we had a fire station. Gradually though, issues became more apparent as garbage piled up, potholes appeared on the roads and sewage had nowhere to go. Our citizens were also becoming ill due to not having any clean water to drink. It was at this point that students made the realizati
Read more

Ancient Civilizations - Making a Timeline!

-
Image
 Whenever students study Ancient Civilizations, they need a solid grasp of place and time. Two essential things that are necessary for students to have an understanding of are timelines and how the numbers on timelines work (both during Common Era and Before Common Era) and they should also know some basics about world Geography and how to use an Atlas.  Students were put into pairs and each assigned a civilization. Each pair was given a basic description of a civilization along with it's start and end date, and then tasked to write the name of their civilization on the start and end cards for their civilization, to write one interesting fact and to draw a picture that represents their civilization. After this they came outside and placed it on the timeline with teacher assistance.  After all students put their cards on the timeline, the next step was to see where their civilization was located, by using an atlas. Students were then called up one by one to look at the map, and tell
Read more

The Bridge Between Home and School

-
Image
One often forgotten about aspect of teaching is the importance of the school / home connection. The question is then, how do we bridge the gap between home and school?  Of course, the essence of trying to forge this relationship always comes down to clear and respectful communication, centered around the idea that we are on the same team - the team that is looking for their child to be successful and fulfilled, the team that wants their child to develop and grow into the best person they are capable of being.  We also have to remember that with some parents we may never be able to "win them over." Furthermore, some parents may want to be more involved in their child's school life but have factors that make that difficult (such as working multiple jobs, being a caregiver or having mental health issues). At the end of the day, it is important to remember that we are the professionals, and that some perspective taking and empathy may be needed to understand a parents' po
Read more