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Volume 3 Issue 01
January 04, 2005
Celebrate Friendship
WELCOME! to Education World's Early Childhood Newsletter. Each month, I'll share some ideas
on a familiar teaching theme. Hopefully you will find a new activity idea or two -- or a new twist
on one of your old favorites! Since I know you are very busy, I'll be short and sweet -- like most
of activities I suggest.
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Happy New Year!
As you think about class goals for the months ahead, you might also want to consider what your
students have already accomplished. For young children, learning to become good classroom citizens
and caring, compassionate beings is as valuable a lesson as recognizing letters or identifying numerals.
Take a few minutes to reflect. Have your students progressed in their understanding of sharing,
taking turns, listening, or helping others? A discussion about Martin Luther King Jr. and his teachings
might be a nice segue into celebrating your children’s character achievements and fostering
a season of friendship in your classroom.
Susan LaBella
Editor, Early Childhood Education Newsletter
Coming Next Issue:
The 100th Day of School
I LIKE ME!
Foster self-esteem by inviting children to make self-portraits. Give each child a paper plate, yarn,
and crayons. Encourage children to draw their faces, then add yarn for hair. Remember to stress
each child’s unique and special features.
MAKE A BULLETIN BOARD FRIENDSHIP QUILT
Give each child a square of colored construction paper. Help children decorate their squares with
sequins, glitter, or perhaps pictures of themselves. Staple squares side by side on the bulletin
board forming a Friendship Quilt. Discuss similarities and differences among people and explain
that those characteristics are what make friendship interesting and fun.
MAKE FRIENDSHIP FRUIT SALAD
Ask each child to bring in a piece of fruit. Cut up all the fruit and mix it together. Serve it
to the children as you remind them how they all contributed to the salad.
SING A FRIENDSHIP SONG
Teach children the traditional Girl Scout song that can be sung in rounds:
“Make new friends, but keep the old
One is silver and the other gold.
The circle is round, it has no end
That's how long I want to be your friend.”
http://sniff.numachi.com/~rickheit/dtrad/pages/tiGSFRIEND;ttGSFRIEND.html
HAVE A FRIENDSHIP FAIR
Set aside a day for a Friendship Fair! Have children play partner games, paint cooperative pictures,
or use paper plates and scrap materials to create funny friendship hats for each other to wear.
Encourage children to choose a new friend for each activity of the day; they can do that by picking
a classmate’s name out of a bag. At Circle Time read the book Will I Have a Friend? by Miriam
Cohen. Ask children if any of them ever felt as Jim felt. Continue the discussion by letting children
share their “friend stories.”
Check out the following Web sites for more
background and activities.
Children's Concept
of Friendship
How do young children define friendship? How can teachers support friendship in the classroom? Find
some important and interesting answers!
http://cep.jmu.edu/education/CSR/Martin/Fall99/tara/INDEX1.HTM
Finding a Friend
How important to a child’s development are friends? This blog comes from University of Maine
psychologists.
http://www.scienceblog.com/community/older/2000/E/200004605.html
KinderKonnect Kindergarten Units
Find a recipe for making Friendship Bread and learn about some other friendship activities.
http://www.kinderkonnect.com/febunits.htm
Getting to Know You
Unit
A nice selection of friendship songs, poems, and books for young children.
http://www.mrsballingall.homestead.com/gettingtknowyou.html
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