Making Friends

Meet My Friend
Social Studies Assemble the children in small groups. Challenge them to discuss and describe what a friend is, where they might find or make a friend, why they are friends to others, etc. On displayed chart paper, copy this poem:

A Special One

by Virginia S. Brown

Meet my friend Caroline.
She doesn't ever whine.
Her face's a warm smile.
Her morning walk is for a mile.
She's filled with surprises.
Her day starts as the sun rises.
We became friends when only three.
She skated by and waved at me.
Kind words are all that she uses.
Making friends is what she chooses.

After the children read the poem, ask them what makes Caroline special. Ask if they would want a friend like Caroline. Help them give reasons for their responses.

Friendship
Uses Eric Carle's book Do You Want to Be My Friend? to teach your students about friendship with this lesson.

Gingerbread Friends: A Lesson on Making Friends
Making friends can be difficult for young students. This is a lesson plan to reflect upon some of the situations that children face when trying to make a friend. Students will also apply their learning about the gingerbread baby to other stories about friendship and in their own reading books.

Making Friends (Christopher Columbus/American Indians)
Students will develop an awareness of the lives of children in other countries and how friends were made in the New World.

Friends
Student will learn how playing together can foster friendships and build community. Students will also discover and explore the key elements of friendship and how friends add to a community.