Friends, by Helme Heine

Three good friends share their adventures and their philosophy on what it means to be a friend.

Materials

Picture of each child in the class, full body
Pictures of children at play
Pig, rooster, mouse mask
Hi-ho cherry-o game boards

Vocabulary

Conquered (to take control of something)
Fair (always thinking about another person and to share equally)

Before Reading the Story

Explain to the children that you are going to play a game called thumbs up. You are going to say a short story and if it sounds like the good way to treat a friend, give a thumb up sign. If not, give a thumb down sign. Make your scenario/stories ones that you have seen happen within your classroom (one day Kerry and Roger were playing in the blocks and Kerry kicked Roger’s tower by accident. Kerry said she was sorry and Roger said it was ok.. One day Kerry and Roger were playing in the blocks and Kerry wanted the block Roger had but Roger said “no” so Kerry knocked down his block tower because she was mad). Give examples using puppets and let the children decide if it was a thumb up or a thumb down. Do friend and not friend actions, how does it make you feel? What could you have done instead?

Social & Emotional Development/Self-Control; develops an understanding of how their actions affect others adm begins to accept the consequences of their actions. AND Social & Emotional Development/Social Relationships; progresses in responding sympathetically to peers who are in need, upset, hurt, or angry; and in expressing empathy and caring for others.

Reading the Story

Looking at the cover, can the children predict what it might be about? Introduce the story.

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; shows growing interest and involvement in listening to and discussing a variety of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.

After Reading the Story

Talk about what the three friends liked to do together, recall the order of events. What things did they share along the way? Ask the children what kinds of things they like to do with their friends.

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; demonstrates growing abilities to retell and dictate stories from books and experiences; to act out stories in dramatic play; and to predict what will happen next in a story. AND Social & Emotional Development/Social Relationships; shows progress in developing friendships with peers.

Discovery

Bring in pictures of children interacting together. Ask the children to describe what they see happening. Do you think these children are friends, why? Do they look like they are having fun, being safe, etc? Talk about the actions in the pictures. Have the children use their observation skills to notice faces and body language.

Social & Emotional Development/Self-Control; develops an understanding of how their actions affect others adm begins to accept the consequences of their actions.

Music and Movement

Have the children lay on their backs and put their feet up in the air. Pretend to pedal a bicycle. Can you peddle fast, slow, around a sharp corner?

Physical Health & Development/Health Status & Practices; participates actively in games, outdoor play, and other forms of exercise that enhance physical fitness.

Sing Row, Row, Row the Boat with the children. The children can partner up with another and try to row together, side-side, holding hands back and forth, back to back, etc.

Social & Emotional Development/Cooperation; develops increasing ability to give and take in interactions; to take turns in games and using materials; and to interact without being overly directive or submissive.

Blocks

Contact pictures of the children in the class to the small rectangle blocks. The children can then build a structure for their friends and act out play scenarios.

Approaches to Learning/Initiative & Curiosity; approaches tasks and activities with increasing flexibility, imagination, and inventiveness.

Art

Print out large letters of the alphabet from the computer. Give the children a variety of art materials to decorate the letters (collage, paint, drawing supplies). When the letters are dry you can cut them out and mount them onto your wall. As the children decorate the letters, ask if they know the letter name, the letter sound, and words that might begin with that letter.

Literacy/Alphabet Knowledge;Identifies at least 10 letters of the alphabet, especially those in their name.

Sand and Water

Put boats into the water table and small animals. If you have no boats, plastic containers and lids will work. Can you put three friends in and float? How many friends can you get into your boat?

Mathematics/Number & Operations; demonstrates increasing interest and awareness of numbers and counting as a means to solving problems and determining quantity. AND Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; begins to participate in simple investigations to test observations, discuss and draw conclusions, and form generalizations.

Library and Writing

Take a big piece of paper and write F is for Friends across the top. Have the children think of words that begin with F. Write these words on the paper down the left side. After the children have thought of F words, they can all practice making their own F’s on the paper, or they may like to illustrate some of the F words. (Foot, flower, funny, freckle, finger, fingernail, flap, four, fish)

Literacy/Phonological Awareness; shows growing progress of beginning and ending sounds in words.

Dramatic play

Use the animal heads to make masks. Color and decorate. Staple to a sentence strip and adjust to the child’s head size. They can become the characters while they share and play in dramatics.

Creative Arts/ Dramatic Play; shows growing creativity and imagination in using materials and in assuming different roles in dramatic play situations.

Math and Manipulatives

Home made Hi-ho Cherri-o game. Make several copies of the cherry tree and cut out many small red circles. Put the circles onto the trees. The children use a dice to roll. The number they roll is the number of cherries they can remove from their tree. The object is to remove all the cherries from the tree. Play until everyone’s tree is empty.

Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to use one-to-one correspondence in counting objects and matching groups of objects.

Outdoor play

Give each other rides on the back of the tricycles.

Physical Health & Development/Health Status & Practices; progresses in physical growth, strength, stamina, and flexibility.

Put a sheet on the ground and pretend that it is a boat. Gather as many children as want to play and go for a sail. Pretend to catch fish and swim from the side of the boat.

Creative Arts/ Dramatic Play; shows growing creativity and imagination in using materials and in assuming different roles in dramatic play situations. AND Social & Emotional Development/Cooperation; develops increasing ability to give and take in interactions; to take turns in games and using materials; and to interact without being overly directive or submissive.