Friendship: Sharing

   Based on our discussions these past few weeks I can hear that 

the children have definite expectations about friendship.

Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister lends itself well to discussing the expectation that friends share. Rainbow Fish refuses to share his shiny scales and uses unkind words when asked and tells the little fish to get away from him.  After some discussion the children decided that Rainbow Fish should share but if he's not going to he still needs to be nice "because friends should be nice to each other"

Sharing Poster

The poster consists of a picture of themselves with a talking bubble and a fish. They used paint to make thumbprint scales. 

In the story, Rainbow Fish sought advice from wise octopus but for our posters I asked the children to imagine if Rainbow Fish came to them for advice - what can you tell Rainbow Fish about sharing?

Sofia - Give away your shiny scales because friends share.

Ryleigh - You have to share with friends because some
girls like shiny things.

Chloe - You should share.

Tyreese - I don't know what I would tell him.

Micheal - Share your scales or else the other fish will be sad.

Bela - You have to share your shiny scales or else it's not fair.
                                                                   But you don't have to share if you only have one.

Friendship: Little Red Hen

Throughout the day the teachers are helping the children recognize their acts of friendship. 

Children helping each other is one we often see.

human graph

I posed a question to the children and we made a human graph to organize their responses.

"Should friends help each other?"

It was unanimous - all agreed friends should help each other

Everyone helping Little Brown Owl

Finding the text "Not I"

But what happens when friends don't help each other? On Monday the children heard the story of the Little Red Hen and had mixed feelings about whether the Little Red Hen should have shared the bread. They re-enacted the story, changing some of the details. Everyone chose an animal to be in the story and when they were asked if they wanted to help the Little Brown Owl everyone said no until William replied yes. As the story progressed the children decided that their character would help when asked and in the end everyone helped Brown Owl grow, pick and roast sunflower seeds and everyone ate them together!

On Tuesday everyone shared the work of baking bread. They mixed, kneaded, and shaped their own little loaf of bread.

Friendship: Our Beginning Knowledge

Listening to a story about friends

What does friendship feel like?

Last week Debbie helped the children identify who was their friend and what they liked to do with friends. On Monday we discussed this further and the children created a long list of activities they enjoy doing with their friends. When I asked "What does friendship feel like?" they identified several feelings; happy, mad, silly, angry, fun, sad. After selecting what colours they needed everyone painted a picture that reflected how friendship feels to them.

Friendship feels like . . .

Can you find your name?

Friends Have Names
The children will work closely together this year and knowing each other's names is important. A lift-the-flap game gave the children an opportunity to read their names and to read the names of the children in the Fire Group. "Who's Under The Blanket" is another game where the children had an opportunity to recall each other's names.

Who's under the blanket?

Can a dog be a friends?
Today's story of a boy and his dog prompted a discussion amongst the children when I asked "Can a dog be your friend?"
"Of course!" - Bela
"No they can't, if you have something your hand they might bite you." - Ryleigh
"Or break things" - Billy
"A dog can be your friend because you can pet them." - Sofia
"That makes no sense." - Bela
"Well you can run together." - Sofia
"Well of course a dog can be your friend. Friends can't be a part of your family" concluded Bela