Friendship

Week of     September 24-28, 2012            

 

           Theme:  Friendship

 

   Date                                    News                      Greeting             Sharing                     Activity

Mon	Welcome, Friends! One of the best things in life is good friends.  Indicate below how important your friends are to you by putting an X on the continuum. Not  ---------------------Crucially Important                        Important	One-Minute Mingle Greeting (p. 224)	Whip Share:   “What is something you enjoy doing with friends?”	Daily Dilemma on Friendship   See Below (journal)
Tues a.m.	Howdy Friends! Here are some questions about the practice of talking about people behind their backs. Put a tally mark next to “yes” or “no” for each question: Have you ever gossiped?  Y       N    … listened to gossip?       Y      N    … been gossiped about?  Y       N	“Say ‘Hi’ to _________” Greeting   (p. 226)	Partner Share:    “Tell about a time when you participated in gossip.”	Telephone   (p. 259)
Tues p.m.	(same)	One person picks a favorite greeting game from last week	Daily Dilemma Discussion	You’re your own Friendship Proverb (see blog)
Wed	Greetings! Gift-giving is a world-wide custom.  Why do you think people like to give & receive gifts? Write your answer on a sticky note & put on the board.	Gift Greeting   (p. 162)	What was a meaningful gift that you received?	Magic Ball   (p. 248)
Thurs	Hey Friends! Today we’ll be talking about the qualities of a good friend.  Think about what you look for & strive to be in your friendships & be ready to share.	Silent Greeting   (p. 226)	Partner Share: What traits do you appreciate in a friend? Pairs write 2+ traits, each a sticky or index card. Cards are read to whole group. Volunteers sort qualities & a poster / list is made: “5 Star Friends”	I Sit in the Grass   (p.246)
Fri	Good Morning Friends! We compiled a list of + friendship qualities.  Now you can decide how many of those qualities you demonstrate each day. After our greeting, I’ll pass out our own Personal Inventory on Friendship Skills.	Question Greeting   (p. 225)	Students reflect on their own friendship skills on poster from yesterday & rate themselves: 1=never; 2=rarely; 3=often; 4=regularly; 5=always	Reflection: Does your # match the person you think of yourself to be, or were you surprised? Circle strengths. Put a triangle around areas of growth.

 

Greetings

 

Monday 9/24/12:

One Minute Mingle Greeting – Each person greets as many students by name as possible in one minute.  Model how to efficiently complete a greeting before starting.  Give examples of how to be greeted and return a greeting, maintaining eye contact, before moving on to the next person.

Tuesday 9/25/12:

Say Hi to ___________ Greeting – Each greeter greets his neighbor to the right on behalf of himself and for the student on his left, who asked him to say hi.  Each greeter also asks the student he is greeting to great the following student for him.  The responders can greet only the person who directly greeted them or they can respond to the greeter and the one who sent the greeting through the greeter.  When there’s time, you can make the entire greeting cumulative!

 

Wednesday 9/26/12:

Gift Greeting – Students greet each other with and extend an imaginary gift to the person they greet.  The gift should demonstrate a level of relationship between the greeter and the student being greeted by being related to an interest the student being greeted has.  “Good Morning Jordan.  I am giving you a volleyball because I know you play on the team.”

Thursday 9/28/12:

Silent Greeting – Students brainstorm silent greetings.  Model & practice some of them, such as nodding, smiling, raising eyebrows, etc…  Have each student greet three students (or everyone) with a silent greeting.  Then discuss the power of non-verbal communication.  Ask when/if it is better to use a silent greeting. 

[Non-verbal communication is 80% of our communication!] 

And in adolescence, conflicts often begin because of misunderstandings about non-verbal communication (“I said ‘hi’ to Ben and he didn’t say ‘hi’ back, etc….).

Friday 9/29/12:

Question Greeting – Students pair up; one student in each pair is chosen to greet the other first.  She says, “Good Morning, _______________” and follows with a question.

Examples: “What’s your favorite food?”  “Have you seen The Avengers?” “Did you finish that science lab?”

 

To up the ante, have kids greet someone of the opposite gender.  Small talk skills are tougher that way and something that they are in need of practicing sometimes.

 

 

Daily Dilemma

Liz and Miranda are best friends.  Liz has been invited to a party by a mutual friend and Miranda has not.  Liz wants to go to the party.  Miranda is hurt that Liz would even think of going since she (Miranda) was not invited and feels slighted. 

What could Miranda and Liz do or say to work this out?

What could Miranda do?  What do you think she should do?

Have you been in a situation like this one (not using names)?

If you were Liz, what would you want Miranda to say?

If you were Miranda, what would you want Liz to say?

What are the words or actions that you would choose to handle this situation?

 

Activities

 

Monday 9/24/12:

 

Read Daily Dilemma & ask students to journal.

 

 

Tuesday 9/25/12:

 

Telephone – Students sit in a circle.  Leader whispers a word or phrase to one student, who whispers it to the next student, and so on.  Students try not to alter the message in any way.  If a student isn’t clear about the message after hearing it once, she may say, “Operator,” indicating she’d like to have it repeated.  When the message makes its way all the way around the circle, the final persona says her version of it.  [Variation:  Send different messages in opposite directions at the same time.]

 

Make a Friendship Proverb (see Christin’s brilliant BLOG!!]

 

Wednesday 9/26/12:

 

Magic Ball – This is an acting game.  Students stand in a circle.  The ball is imaginary, and changes shape each time it’s passed from student to student.  A student is selected to begin.  She mimes molding a ball of soft material into an object – a watermelon, coffee cup, book, anything – and mimes carefully handing it to the student to her right.  Her neighbor carefully takes it, shapes it into a new object, and passes it on.  Imaginary patting and/or sculpting the object into its new shape is mandatory.  Acting adds fun:  a heavy object may cause a student to struggle; a smelly object may cause one’s nose to wrinkle, etc…  This activity is done silently.  Guesses as to what each student intended the object to represent wait until after the game.

 

Thursday 9/28/12:

 

I Sit in the Grass – Students sit in a circle in which there is one empty chair.  Key to Success:  after all required movements at each phase of the game have been completed, the person to the right of the empty chair is always responsible to continue the forward momentum of the game. 

 

To start, the student to the right of the empty chair says, “I sit…” and moves one place to the left, occupying the empty chair.  The student to the right of the newly vacated chair says, “…in the grass…” and also moves one place to the left, occupying the empty chair.  The student to the right of that newly vacated chair also moves one place to the left and says, “…with my friend ______________,” naming someone across the circle.  The student named rises and moves to the chair vacated by the student who named him.  In doing so, his chair becomes empty, and the student to the right of it starts the process all over again, by occupying it and saying, “I sit….”  This continues until all students have been called a friend or until time is up.  As students begin to master the game, they may decide to speed it up.