We began our discussion about friendship by discussing what makes a good friend. We brainstormed how we act as friends and then how we like our friends to treat us. The class talked about sharing their toys, playing with others, talking kindly and helping peers when they are hurt.
We then met up with our big buddies to share our ideas of what friendship looks like. They taught us how to use the Chatterpix app and each student recorded a statement, "I am a good friend when I...". The kindergarteners loved playing on the ipads, taking photos, recording themselves and hearing their voices playing back. Afterwards we used the projector to share all of the recordings and ideas of what friendship is to us. I also posted each of the students individual Chatterpix recordings on their online portfolios for their parents to see. Check out our videos here: https://animoto.com/play/BKaXWSW3LZOiHWj1XbrLDw
To continue the conversations about friendship and encourage my students to look deeper, we read several books, some we read and some we watched on youtube. A few of the books we read were: Howard B Wigglebottom Learns about Bullies, How Full Is Your Bucket? and
The books encouraged us to discuss what to do if someone is bothering or bullying us, how to include others, and how being kind to others helps us and them feel better about ourselves. The students practiced the steps they need to take if someone is bothering them. Each child role played asking someone to stop what they are doing, walking away and then telling a trusted adult. It empowers the students and gives them the control to not play with someone that is not treating them kindly and hopefully deescalates negative situations. 
On Pink Shirt Day my students were so thrilled to receive their pink shirts from Shaw and Classroom Champions! They proudly wore their shirts all day and we looked so smart as a class, making a statement against bullying. I loved the message on the shirt this year, so positive, "Be a buddy!". I think it is so important to focus on social skills and empower our students in how to be a kind and supportive friend and how to speak up and walk away when they are in a negative interaction.
We reviewed how to fill other's buckets and watched Akeem's video. With his challenge to get know our classmates, we would randomly pair up and then ask our friends questions. Throughout the week we stopped a several times and paired up to chat with our peers. We asked about favourite colours, foods, ice cream flavour, tv show, hobby, and more. It was lovely to see the different connections, the excited chatter and the new friendships made!
We are always working on our friendship skills and are going to go further with these lessons as always, continuing to use our new vocabulary and language to reinforce and build our new skills.
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