High five to friendship

Time

10-15 minutes

Level

Primary

Material

Paper, markers

Purpose

To help students identify ways that they can become a better friend

Instructions

Brainstorm some characteristics of good friends as a class (e.g., sharing, kindness, truthfulness, etc.).
Have students take two pieces of paper and trace both their right and left hands.
On one hand, have them write five strengths/characteristics that make a good friend. If students have trouble doing this on their own, they can partner up to come up with more ideas.
On the other hand, have them write five areas where they think they have room to grow to become a better friend.
Ask students to select one item per hand to put into practice that week (set a small goal).
Share/reflect weekly (as a group or in a journal).
Repeat.

Adaptations

Have others identify what makes you a good friend.
To extend this practice, students can choose one of the areas that they think they could improve and set a small goal that would help them to build on those skills.
Have students create an acrostic poem with their name using each letter to describe themselves as a friend or have them work in pairs and have each partner describe the other as a friend in an acrostic poem.

Students who have quality friendships are less likely to both engage in, and be victims of bullying, even if they have a tendency to act out or be socially withdrawn (Bollmer, Milich, Harris, & Maras, 2005). This is because students can use quality friendships to learn to regulate their emotions and behaviour in a socially appropriate way (Caspi, Henry, McGee, Moffitt, & Silva, 1995; Eisenberg, Fabes, Guthrie, & Reiser, 2000). Encouraging students to engage in more quality friendships will encourage prosocial behaviour in the classroom.

References

Bollmer, J., Milich, R., Harris, M., & Maras, M. (2005). A Friend in Need: The Role of Friendship Quality as a Protective Factor in Peer Victimization and Bullying. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 20(6), 701-712. doi:10.1177/0886260504272897

Caspi, A., Henry, B., McGee, R. O., Moffitt, T. E., & Silva, P. A. (1995). Temperamental Origins of Child and Adolescent Behavior Problems: From Age Three to Age Fifteen. Child Development, 66(1), 55-68. doi:10.2307/1131190

Eisenberg, N., Fabes, R. A., Guthrie, I. K., & Reiser, M. (2000). Dispositional Emotionality and Regulation: Their Role in Predicting Quality of Social Functioning. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78(1), 136-157. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.78.1.136

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