Relationship Skills Guidance Lesson
PreK-1st Grade
Relationship Skills Goal
Students know that communication involves speaking, listening, and nonverbal behavior.
Building Background
Today’s lesson is on relationships. The word relationship means a connection between two people. An example of a relationship is a friendship. So today’s lesson is going to be about friendships that you may have with someone like a classmate, but it could also talk about a relationship you have with a family member like your mom, dad, brother, sister, grandma, or grandpa. Can anyone tell me why it would be important to have a relationship or friendship? (allow time to answer) That’s right, it is important to have friendships and relationships because it can make us and the people around us happy. It can also make us feel safe and give us a feeling of belonging to something. All of that builds our happiness. But sometimes it is hard to make a friend or relationship. Sometimes there might be problems with our friendships. We could have what is called a conflict.
Mindful Moment
Take 10 deep breaths, while paying attention to the rise and fall of your chest as you breathe.
Watch Sesame Street: Conflict
What happened between the two headed monster and the gentleman? That’s right, they were arguing. That is called a conflict. Now we all get into conflicts. Conflicts are normal and happen all the time .A conflict can happen when people choose not to share, say unkind words to each other or could not allow someone to play with them. What we want to learn today is how to RESOLVE a conflict, if we have one. That means what can we do to try and make it better.
Watch Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon
Questions before Watching
Show the front cover of the book and ask the following questions:
- Looking at the cover, what do you notice about Molly Lou?
- What do you think this story is about?
- What do you think "Stand Tall" means?
- Have you ever had a time when someone was not nice to you?
- Have you ever been called names because people thought you were different?
- How did that make you feel?
- How did you solve the problem?
Questions after Watching
- What made Molly Lou different from her classmates? (use pictures in story for reference)
- What advice did Molly Lou's grandmother give her?
- What did Molly Lou do when Ronald picked on her?
- How did Molly Lou feel about herself? How do you know?
- How did Molly Lou “stand tall”?
- How do you feel about the way that the other children treated Molly?
- Have you ever been treated poorly by a classmate? If so, what did you do?
Activity
Wrinkled Heart
Color and cut out the heart, the paste the following quote in the center of the heart.
"Before you speak, Think and be smart. It’s hard to fix a wrinkled heart!"
Ask students to crumple up their heart, then try to straighten it out.
Discuss the effects that hurtful behaviors can have on someone’s heart, as the wrinkles never come all the way out. Together, talk about ways students can demonstrate kind behaviors toward their peers and not cause wrinkles in other hearts!