minding
lesson 15:
seasons of a friendship: summer
Lesson Summary
This lesson supports student understanding of how they can best “mind” their friendships when they are experiencing the friendship season of Summer. Students have learnt so far that our friendships experience different seasons (Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter). This lesson provides students with knowledge and strategies to be able to maintain and strengthen their friendships, even when things are going well.
Purpose
Purpose: This lesson helps students to be able to describe and explain what a summer friendship looks and feels like. Students will also be able to identify and implement practical ways to enjoy and maintain their friendships and show positive friendship behaviours
Process
Time Needed: 30 - 35 minutes.
Activity: (5 mins)
Intro: (2 mins)
Activity: Marble Jars (10-15 mins)
Activity: (10 mins)
Debrief and Reflection (5 mins)
Materials & downloads
For this lesson, you will need the following:
Two clear jars or containers
Marbles or counters
Optional: Student workbook/notebook
Activity: (5 mins)
How it works:
Ask students to stand and find a space in the classroom (or activity area).
Play an upbeat, fun song (age and school appropriate)
Tell students that when the music is playing, they can move around and dance freely.
Share with students that when the music stops, you will call out a friendship action and students must quickly find a partner and complete the action. They cannot work with the same person twice - they must choose a different partner for each action.
Examples:
Find a partner and give them a compliment
Find a partner and do a high-five
Find a partner and share your best smile
Find a partner and say something encouraging
Find a partner and say “you’re awesome!”
Debrief:
Good work, that activity was a lot of fun! When we include, encourage, and celebrate other people, we have fun, and feel full of positive energy! The same is true in our friendships! Friendships feel at their strongest when we bring joy, kindness, and fun into them. When our friendships feel strong and we are enjoying being with our friend, we are in the friendship season of summer!
intro (2 mins)
We experience the season of summer in our friendships when we have developed trust and good communication with our friends over time. The friendship feels strong, and we feel happy, safe and enjoy being around the other person.
It is important to know and understand that even though our friendship with the other person feels strong and is going well, we still need to put in the effort to maintain it! Friendships need care, kindness , trust and respect all of the time, not just at the beginning when we are developing our friendship!
Friendship is also a two-way street! This means that to have a great friendship, both people have to work at it, not just one person! For friendships to thrive, both people need to give to and receive from the friendship.
Activity: Marble Jar (10-15 mins)
This activity builds on concepts shared by academic Brené Brown.
This can either be completed using two jars and marbles and counters, or using the worksheet provided.
Either using the jars or the worksheet, label one jar as “Giving” and the other as “Receiving”.
The “giving” jar represents what we give in a friendship, such as kindness ,trust, listening, effort.
This “Receiving” jar shows what we receive from a friendship, such as support, fun, care.
2. Read out a variety of different friendship actions and ask the class “Is this giving or receiving?”. Then add the marble / counter / sentence to the correct jar.
Giving:
You save your friend a seat at lunch
You wait for a friend while they are getting their bag at the end of the day
You say sorry after a disagreement.
You see your friend is upset and you ask them “Are you okay?”
You listen to them when they tell you how they feel
Receiving:
A friend listens to you when you feel upset
A friend includes you when they notice you’re alone.
A friend cheers for you when you try something new
A friend forgives you and wants to move on
A friend remembers a story you told them
Giving and Receiving:
You take turns choosing what to play.
A friend shares a laugh or a joke with you during break.
Take a moment during the activity to pause and ask the students “Are both jars filling up?”.
To highlight the negative impact of one way friendships, repeat the activity. This time, share statements that are only giving or receiving (teacher to decide based on best-fit for students).
Ask the students:
“How would this friendship feel?”
“What might happen over time to this friendship?”
Optional: Give each student in the class a marble / bead / counter. Ask them to each come up with another idea of what they can give or receive from a friendship. Then invite them one at a time to come up the jar, share their idea and place their marble/bead/counter in the correct jar.
After the activity, invite students turn to a partner and answer:
“What is one way I can give in a friendship?”
“What is one thing I like to receive from a friend?”
Encourage students to share their ideas with the class.
Debrief:
This activity helps us to understand how we maintain our friendships through both giving and receiving. Healthy friendships need both, just like our two jars! If one jar is empty, this can cause the friendship to feel unfair. Friendships stay strong and healthy when both jars are being added to and this helps to build trust between both people. Both giving and receiving is important in healthy friendships and it is not about keeping score and waiting for our friend to give so that we can take. Instead, it is about understanding that both people need to give to the friendship for it to succeed. If we can focus on what we can give to our friendship, as well as what we can receive, this can build trust and strength in our friendships.
Lesson Debrief:
Ask students to reflect on this question:
What is one thing you can do today to “give” to one of your friendships?
We experience the friendship season of summer when we are adding to our “giving” jar as much as we can. Giving to our friendships makes us feel good too, and when our giving and receiving jars are filling up, we are having a great time in our friendships. Remember - friendships don’t stay strong by accident, they stay strong because both people keep trying. When we notice what we give and what we receive, we can be better friends and build happier, healthier friendships.
