Before we watched Lex’s video on Friendship, I asked “What qualities do you look for in your friends?”. Here are some of the key words students spoke out to the class…trust, nice, respect, funny, believe, loyal, role model, and honest. Friendship is an important topic in our classroom. We have had several students move in and out of our classroom this year. We have also had several arguments arise among groups of friends that we have had to work through. I hope Lex’s message on friendship will stick with my students and they can be the best friends they can be.
Lex’s Challenge
This month Lex challenged us to make a new friend and learn three things about them. Talk about having to use perseverance as well. My students were hesitant to step outside their comfort zones and take on this challenge. I had to encourage them throughout the month to tackle this challenge. Some students took on the challenge within our classroom, while others made new friends in other 5th grade classrooms. A few students made new friends outside of school. I enjoyed learning about their new friends throughout the month. I hope to see more friendships blossoming in my classroom as the year continues.
Friendship Conversations
My students were able to just sit and talk to their friends in the classroom for 10 minutes. They rarely have moments to just talk to their friends so I gave it to them one Friday before lunch. That same day I had my students sit with random lunch friends. We sit in the booths in the cafeteria and they always sit with the same people. (I did learn that my girls switch their booth seats every day so they can take turns eating with each other.) I randomly assigned each student a booth. No one sat with the friends they normally eat with on a given day. There was some push back and complaining, but they quickly turned it around. They survived one lunch out of 185 eating with someone other than their normal friends.
Get to Know Our Classmates
You can see the obvious clusters of friends in my classroom when it comes to lunch, partner activities, and recess. My hope was this activity would allow my students to find something new about their classmates who they do not normally hang around. Who knows? Maybe the clusters will begin to shift. Each student was tasked with asking three classmates (not their current friends) a “Get to Know You” question. Some students only asked three new people, while others went beyond and asked as many students as they could in the time allotted. I had one student ask a different question to all 24 of her classmates. That took perseverance! Afterwards, each student had to pick one student and share what they learned about them. They learned a lot about their classmates from this simple activity. We learned about favorite sports, colors, shoes, movies, music, numbers, activities, etc.
Our annual 3-5 Career Fair was held at school as we try and prepare our students for the future. Each student went into the Career Fair with questions and friends in tow. Some students walked around to the different booths with their friends because they have similar interests. Others walked around with their friends simply because they were comfortable with that person. Some students branched out and walked around on their own and met new 5th grade friends with similar career interests. After the Career Fair we came back to the classroom and shared our favorite and most interesting options.
Devin with Mrs. Stone's dad.
Friendships with 2nd Graders
Each month our school has a day long Read-a-Thon. For 30 minutes, we go to two 2nd grade classrooms and read with our reading buddies. Most times the 2nd graders have books that they want the “big” kids to read with them. Sometimes we bring our “big” kid 5th grade books to read to them. The 2nd grade teachers and I are always in awe of how quiet and engaged both ages of students are while reading. The last Friday of Friendship month was our February Read-a-Thon. Before going to read with our buddies, we each wrote letters about the importance of reading for our 2nd grade friends. Students included tips and strategies for the 2nd graders to become successful readers. Each 2nd grade student also received a handmade bookmark saying “Leaders are Readers”.
Friendship Stories
I pose a new writing prompt for my students to focus on each week. Once again, perseverance was in play. At our school, we are trying to have our 5th graders write a story that is five paragraphs in length. This is an extremely daunting task for most. One week this month, students were to write a story about friendship. Some wrote about themselves with their current friends, while others wrote about made up characters. After writing their stories, they had a friend help edit their work. Their friendship stories are posted on our Classroom Champions bulletin board outside our classroom.
I will say we have had a successful friendship month. Students are still trying to step outside their comfort zones and make new friends. I hope they continue to make new friends, especially since they will be going to different middle schools next year.
Standards
ELA W.5.3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences. W.5.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1-3 above.) W.5.5 With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of Language standards 1-3 up to and including grade 5 here.) W.5.6 With some guidance and support from adults, use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of two pages in a single sitting. SL.5.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 5 topics and texts, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.
Health 5.ICR.1.4 Summarize how to solve problems and resolve conflict without avoidance or violence.
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