Building Friendship Skills

Lesson Overview

Year Group: Kindergarten
Subject: Health
Duration: 56 minutes
Class Size: 26 students

Curriculum Area and Level:
The lesson aligns with the Australian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education, specifically targeting personal, social, and community health for Foundation Year students (Kindergarten). This lesson emphasizes developing interpersonal skills and fostering positive relationships among peers.

Learning Intentions:
Students will learn about the qualities of a good friend.

Success Criteria:
By the end of the lesson, students will be able to:

• Identify qualities of a good friend.
• Demonstrate caring, inclusive, and respectful behaviour.

Lesson Content

• Understanding how to care for and include each other.
• Recognising and describing different emotions.
• Practicing interpersonal skills to interact positively with others.
• Acknowledging the importance of kindness, fairness, and respect.

Outcomes:

• PDe-3: Communicates ways to be caring, inclusive, and respectful of others.
• PDe-10: Uses interpersonal skills to effectively interact with others.

Activities

Introduction (10 minutes)

• Book Reading: Share the story "Rainbow Fish" by Marcus Pfister with the class. Discuss the main themes and ask students to identify the qualities that made Rainbow Fish a good friend by the end of the story.

Discussion (10 minutes)

• Engage students in a guided conversation about different ways to show care and respect towards friends. Prompt students to share their experiences or ideas about being a good friend.

Activity (20 minutes)

• Role-Playing Scenarios: Divide students into small groups. Provide role-play cards depicting scenarios requiring demonstration of friendly behaviour (e.g., inviting a new student to play, sharing toys). Allow each group to act out their scenario and discuss the outcomes.
• Crafting Friendship Flowers: Each student will create a "Friendship Flower". Provide templates where each petal represents a quality of a good friend (e.g., sharing, listening, kindness). Encourage creativity in decorating the petals.

Interactive Game (15 minutes)

• Friendship Bingo: Hand out bingo cards with different friendly behaviours, such as "helped someone" or "shared a toy." Students circulate around the room, finding classmates who've performed these actions, and mark them down.

Conclusion (5 minutes)

• Have a class recap session highlighting the day's learnings about the importance of being a good friend.
• End with a group singing of "Make New Friends," fostering a sense of community and togetherness.

Differentiation Strategies

• Language Support: Use visual aids and a buddy system for EAL/D students.
• Attention Variation: Provide hands-on and movement-based activities to engage ADHD students, ensuring frequent check-ins.

Assessment

• Formative: Observe students during discussions and role-plays, noting their understanding and application of friendship qualities.
• Summative: Review and display students' completed "Friendship Flowers" to assess comprehension and creativity.

Materials

• "Rainbow Fish" book
• Role-play scenario cards
• Friendship Flower templates
• Friendship Bingo cards

This detailed and innovative approach ensures that every student not only learns about friendship in a supportive environment but also enjoys the learning process through interactive and artistic expressions.