Being a Good Friend

1. Begin the lesson by asking the following questions to students:

What makes a good friend?
Have you made friends in our classroom? What are some of the things that make them a friend to you?

Record student's answers to the questions on chart paper.

2. Read the story ‘A Rainbow of Friends’ by P.K. Hallinan

3. After the story, the students will be asked to go back to their tables to create a friendship salad. Each table will have a medium-sized bowl in the center of their table with one fruit. Each table will have a different fruit. The teacher should help students cut the fruit at their table and place it in the bowl. During this time, the teacher will ask the students the following questions:
What makes a good friend?
What is something a friend has done for you, and how did it make you feel?
Do all of your friends have to be just like you?
How is our classroom like our fruit salad?

4. After all the fruit has been cut, the teacher will ask students to come back to the carpet. The teacher will bring out a large salad bowl and have the fruits out for students to see. The teacher will ask the students what fruits would be tasty in the salad. The teacher will begin mixing the cut fruit together. Before mixing it all together, the teacher will pull out a rotten banana and ask students, ‘What about rotten bananas? What would this rotten banana do to our salad? How does a rotten friend affect you?’

5. The teacher will explain to students that they do not want to be the ‘rotten banana’, but they want to be ‘sweet’, just like a good friend. After this, students will be dismissed back to their tables to eat their friendship salad.

6. After students are finished eating and have cleaned up their tables, the teacher will pass out the good/bad friend worksheet.

7. Students should be given 10-15 minutes to complete the worksheet. The teacher will review some of the answers on the worksheet.

This would be a great opportunity for parent involvement. A letter could be sent out days before asking for fruit to be sent to school, and for parents to attend this gathering. 
**Make sure to check for allergies before choosing the fruits that will be added to the friendship salad. 

The students will be assessed through the questioning that takes place during the lesson, and their ability to answer the questions on the worksheet successfully.