Weekly Activities

Little Blue and Little Yellow by Leo Lionni is the story of best friends, Little Blue and Little Yellow. They love to be and play together. One day, so happy to see one another, they hug and both turn green. We used this story of friendship to learn about colour mixing.

Planning the board game. The children have identified friendly and not friendly actions. Friendly: - hugging - sharing - playing Not Friendly: - pushing - hitting - budging in line. Using the children's knowledge, we are creating a "Friendship Game".  The object of the game is to practice taking turns and to generate discussion about what means to give and receive friendship.  The children have made the playing board and begun to fill the squares with friendly/non-friendly actions. We will complete the game next week. Colouring the squares.

We have been building our conversation on the role friendship plays in our lives. The children all believe having friends is important to them for the following reasons: Friends are someone to: - give hugs to (Keira) - play with (Chloe) - run and play tag with and draw (William) - hug (Ryleigh) - do silly things with (Michael) - give presents to (Sofia) - share with (Tyreese) - help (Bela) I asked the children what do they do when their friend is sad, the unanimous answer was to give them a hug.  The story, My Friend is Sad , by Mo Willems is the starting point for our discussions on the giving and receiving of friendship.  Elephant Gerald is feeling blue. Piggie is determined to cheer him up.  In the end, all Gerald really wants is to spend time with Piggie. The children did a number of different activities to connect with the story and the emotions of happy and sad. Bela Micheal   Tyreese Ryleigh William  

Continuing with Willy and Hugh , the children recognized that Willy was lonely because he wanted someone to play with. Willy being lonely  was the starting point of a conversation of does friendship matter .  The children all said "yes" but couldn't explain why. I asked the children to think of times that they want to play with friends and times that they want to be alone. We will explore this topic further next week. What I like to do with friends: Bela : play in the block area. Michael : play trucks and cars. Ryleigh:  play hide and seek. Chloe:  play babies. William:  play tag and race games. Tyreese:  play tag and hide and seek. What I like to do alone: Bela:  play Lego. Michael : play trucks and cars and Lego. Ryleigh:  nothing.  I like to be with friends. Chloe:  read books. William:  rest in the tent. Tyreese:  play toys in my toy room. Say Hello Hello, my name is.... Many of the children ...

Getting to know each other : At the beginning of each group time, we have been playing a game to get to know each other.  The children took turns choosing a person to roll a ball to and ask a question.  This is what we have learned about one another. Ryleigh has a brother named Cameron. Chloe's favourite colour is purple. Tyreese has a brother and a sister. Keira has a cat. Sofia likes the colour pink. Bela's favourite colour is golden. William likes to play Lego. Michael likes red and green. How to Make Friends How Willy feels Willy and Hugh by Anthony Browne is the story of  a lonely chimpanzee named Willy. This all changes when Willy bumps into Hugh and the two become friends. Before we read the story the children made predictions as to why Willy is lonely. Sofia: maybe his friends are excluding him. Ryleigh: maybe his friends said bad things to him. When we finished the story, the children initiated a discussion about how Wil...

Transdisciplinary Theme: Who We Are Central Idea: Friendship is an important part of healthy communities Key Concepts: Function, Connection, Responsibility An inquiry into: Focused on his work. Puppets of Chloe and her sister. the role friendship plays in our lives the giving and receiving of friendship the expectations in friendships Teacher questions: Does friendship matter? What does friendship feel like? Are there rules of friendship? This week we began by asking the children who are their friends and what do they like to do with them. Here are there thoughts on friendship: Fire and Earth Group Collaboration Sofia: Lauren is my friend because she is kind and she hugs me when we fall down. Keira: My mom is my friend because she like to cuddle me all day. Tyreese: My brother is my friend. Michael: A friend likes to play. Chloe: My sister is my friend. Ryleigh: Allye is my friend because I push her on the the swings. Bela: A friend i...

The plan Working together Cameron was impressed by the Fir Group's creation, a very large spider! He asked if our group could make an inchworm.  Of course, every child said yes! Cameron drew the group a model to work from and with everyone's help, the inchworm was created. Some of the children expressed their knowledge of inchworms through poetry and art. The finished product Lucas' poem Sofia's poem