Funny Friends

Are you guys loving this Android commercial as much as me?

I adore it!  I knew I had to sneak it into one of my lessons. I also had to share with one of my favorite collaborators, S. Svarda, School Librarian extraordinare. Check out her blog here!!!

 This month my lesson with 2nd/3rd really continues to morph, especially with Valentines Day. Here's a rough sketch of what I did and how I used this wonderful video.

Introduction: This month we are talking about respect, being a considerate classmate, and bullying prevention. I introduced the topic asking students to share with a neighbor one way they include others at school.

Lesson: Next I asked them to look and see if they could see any of their answers in our story and we read the  award winning and wonderful book "Each Kindess" by Jacqueline Woodson.

Next (depending on time) we played Quiz Quiz Trade using my "Each Kindness" cards. You can get them on my TPT store for $1. Some classes we played a short game (find 5 partners) and some classes we played a longer game. It really depended on time and what I had planned next.

Follow Up Fun - Here are 2 options for what to do next.

Option 1: Next, we discussed how the students in the story didn't spend time getting to know the student Maya. We talked about how important it is to get to know each other and our unique qualities. We talked about special and unique we all are, but how we need to work together to be a productive team, class, school, and community. This is when I introduced the video.

I froze it on the last frame reminding students that we are different, but together.
If time allowed some classes used this amazing FREE resource by Laura Cander. I found it on TPT and we used it to interview each other and make a special Valentine poem for a classmate. We used the interview a friend and heart poem page. I asked them to use this as an opportunity to find out something very unique about their classmate.

One of my students (you know the "one" I am talking about) pitched a fit because "she had no friends!" So I calmly partnered others up and then let her interview me about my pups. She loved it and in the end wrote a poem for them.

The pups loved their poem.

*Warning one of my spectrum students who hates handwriting was not a huge fan of having to write down the answers, a rough draft, and a poem. So have a back up like maybe he/she just writes down a final draft, perhaps they interview the student and you can scribe it to them, they could draw a picture using the information learned in the interview, or you could incorporate technology. (Hindsight is 50/50 right now) =)

Option 2: In some classes (especially post Valentines) we talked about the "stone" and the "ripples." After we discussed what each one represented in the story, we talked about the "ripple effects" of our own actions. I used the "I Do, We Do, You Do" method for this next activity.

Using a paint chip we talked about the ripple effects of actions. I had two colors (one light and one dark.) One the dark one I wrote "turned away when she smiled" in the darkest box (in some chips I had to skip the top box because you couldn't read my Sharpie it was so dark.). Then I wrote about the all the ripple effects, putting each one in the boxes from darkest to lightest. For example: "turned away", "felt left out" "didn't make friends at school" "was lonely" "didn't smile at rest of school" "stopped wanting to play" "left school without friends", etc. 

Then in the light paint chip we did a positive "what if?" together. I asked the students "What would the ripple effects have been if she had just smiled back at Maya?" We wrote all the ideas ("started talking" "got to know each other" "made a new friend" "expanded friendship circle" "learned a new game", etc.) in the squares. 

Last, the students got to do their own paint chips (one positive and one negative - they requested they do both). They could use a personal experience or create one.

I collected the chips for a bulletin board that is in the works.

Wow that was a lot!!! 

How would you incorporate this fun new video? How do you use paint chips? What fun new FREE resources have you found?