Friendships Everywhere #6: Preparation for a Tea Party!

Inviting our friends

Making decorations

Last week, I read the story Miss Spider's Tea Party by David Kirk and the children all felt sad when the other bugs ran away from Miss Spider. Olympia mentioned: "She wants them at her tea party, she's not going to catch them." Jayla continued: "Yeah, maybe they(the bugs) just need to know she's not going to eat them." I asked the children how do we meet new friends. Lucas said: "You can say 'Hi!'" Theo said: "You can play with them." I told the children that one way that adults meet new friends is at parties. The children were drawn to the sound of parties. Below is a caring and cute conversation with the phrase "throw a party":

Making paper hats

Olympia: We should have a tea party for our friends!

Mary: Sure! Let's throw a party for our friends at Creative Minds. 

Theo: (Looking quite concerned) Are we throwing the party or are we having a party? 

Mary: Can you explain more to me?

Theo: Are we going to throw the party at the children or ...

Mary: I see! Throwing a party means having a party. We are not going to throw things at people. 

Theo: (With relief) Oh! 

Making gifts for the guests

The Water group is doing preparation work for our tea party on Thursday. The children came up with so many great ideas for the party. We need to invite our guests, make decorations, make paper hats, make a cake, prepare teacups and pots, and gifts. What a organized and thoughtful group of children! 

Friendships Everywhere #5: Friendship Pie

Decorating with fruits

Filling pies with custard

 I asked the children how they feel/think about friendship one day. All of them felt that it is very important to have friends. But how do we make friends?

Sharing pies with our friends! 

We read the book Enemy Pie by Derek Munson . Before reading the book, the children imagined that enemy pie would taste sour, disgusting, and yucky. They were all very happy and relieved when the pie turned out to be delicious! Jayla mentioned: "They (the boy and Jeremy) just need to play together for a bit so they can be friends." Everyone was glad that the boy and Jeremy became good friends because it was better to have friends than enemies!

Playing with a friend

The children also made their own friendship pie. Just like the boy and Jeremy, each child played with with someone who they don't normally play with. All of them kept an open-mind and found their special someone!

Friday Art: Working with Clay

Lately, the children have showed great interest in the story The Three Little Pigs. They were especially drawn to the houses that the pigs built. They were commenting on how the wolves destroyed the houses because they weren't sturdy enough and how they would build it so the wolf would not blow it down.




So for art today, the children made their own houses with clay. They had so much fun getting their hands dirty with the modelling clay while still being very particular on the details.

Friendships Everywhere #4 - Expectations in Friendship

Should...

*good friends always stick together?

*good friends always decide together?
*friends always be fair?

The children thought about the expectations of the characters from Friends by Helme Heine. I asked them if they agree to the rules or not. Here is what they think:

So how should friends be with each other? What are the expectations in friendship? The children created a poem on the smart board to express their feelings about friendship.

Friendships Everywhere #3: Showing Appreciation

The children always have a big smile when they describe what they do together with their friends. So this week we explored further into the connection between friends. I asked the children what friendship feels like and they all
said it feels happy!

We read The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein and the children immediately noticed that the tree is a very good friend by always sharing and giving to the boy. I asked the children what are some ways the boy can show appreciation(one of the IB attribute words) to the tree. The children suggested: give a hug, give a kiss, give a present, or give a card.

The children wanted to give something to their friends too. They wanted to let their friends know that they appreciate the happiness they received from them. So they made a thank-you card and beaded a bracelet to give to his/her special friend.

Friendships Everywhere #2: Circle of Friends

The Water group children created their own paper puppets to help them learn more about each other. The children really enjoyed the time designing their puppets at the table. They shared ideas and chatted about their likes and dislikes. Every time they found someone with a common interest, a huge smile would spread across their faces!
Later I introduced the book Pearl Barley and Charlie Parsley by Aaron Blabey. It is a delightful story about the power of friendship.  In the story Pearl and Charlie are different in almost every way but somehow, they are very best friends. How? We learned it is through the care and love that Pearl and Charlie give to and receive from each other (connection - the giving and receiving of friendship).

Then the children made their own circle of friends. They talked about what each person likes to do and what they like to do together (connection).

Friendships Everywhere #1: A Friend is...

We have begun our year with our unit titled Friendships Everywhere. 

Transdisciplinary Theme: How We Organize Ourselves

Central Idea: Friendship is an important part of healthy communities

Key concepts to be emphasized: Function, Connection, Responsiblity

Lines of Inquiry:

- The role friendships play in our lives

- The giving and receiving of friendship

- The expectations in friendships

Teacher's Questions:

- Does friendship matter?

- What does friendship feel like?

- Are there rules of friendship?

To help generation ideas from the children, Eli the Elephant (a puppet) sought our group for help. Eli has just started school and needs help with homework, "A friend is _________." Everyone eagerly gave his/her idea and was so proud to help Eli with his schoolwork!