You Will Be My Friend

Yesterday at a request of a second grade teacher I did a pop in lesson on making friends.
She has a new student who is struggling to make friends and we have several that could always use the social skills practice so here's what I did:

First we read "You Will Be My Friend" by Peter Brown.

We spent a lot time talking about the title: why did it end with an "!"?, what would you change?, what words would you switch?, etc.

 At the end of the book we brainstormed ways to introduce yourself to a new person, ways you could make friends, times you might need to make a new friend, etc.

To end we played Quiz- Quiz Trade. The game came from my new assistant principal and she was kind enough to share the directions and sample cards with us. Here's how the game works:

What you need:

•  A set of questions printed or written out on cards. I used these amazing cards for TPT for this lesson. 

•  One card for each student.

•  Five minutes (can be longer).

Procedure:

·       Teacher announces: Quiz Quiz Trade

·       Students:

**Students are given the question cards

1.    Find a partner.

2.    Student 1 asks Student 2 the question on the card.

3.    Student 2 either answers it or says I don’t know/pass/etc. (It is important to the speed of the game that students admit when they don’t know)

4.    Student 1 either congratulates Student 2 or goes over the answer 

5.    Student 2 then repeats the procedure with Student 1.

6.    Student 1 and Student 2 trade cards and find a new partner.

7.    I usually let students play Quiz Quiz Trade for about 5 minutes.

You must set very clear expectations with this activity from the very beginning.  Stop the game immediately and will continue on with other work at the first sign of inappropriate behavior.  Since they love this game, that is enough to keep this activity running smoothly after one or two times of showing consistency and high expectations.

When I introduce the game, I have two students come stand at the front of the room, and walk them through the process I have written out above.  I review “deal-breakers” which for me include: wondering around, refusing to take a question from a classmate, faces made at classmates if they do or don’t know an answer, always going and/or waiting for a particular “friend,” anything derogatory or rude, anything that is not class/topic related.

I usually monitor by wandering through the milling crowd with a card. Most students like to ask us (teachers) the questions, so I always carry a card, but monitor as I play.

It is very important to use this activity for review and/or community building ONLY.   The content, whether it is vocabulary or specific review of topics, must have been taught first. MOST students should know the answers, and peers can be used to help those who aren’t retaining information, learn it in a different way (interactive review game). 

Here are some examples of cards she used. It's a perfect icebreaker activity.

If you want the full set of cards just let me know and I can e-mail them your way!