27_Mindful Friendships

Friendship is always a sweet responsibility, never an opportunity. —Khalil GibranBig Ideas For This Lesson Mindful Friendships At Home Resources Level: Lower Elementary (K-2) Concepts: • Accepting Differences • Friendship • Getting to Know You • Mindful ListeningFive-to eight-year-olds begin to place value judgements on similarities and differences. They oftenrank the things in their world from “best” to “worst.” They like to win and hate to lose. They choosebest friends. They get left out of games and clubs, and they exclude others-sometimes because of race,ethnicity, and religion.This lesson reminds students that it is okay to have more than one friend. As students move on to thenext grade level, they will find that school is a place where students will have the opportunity to experi-ence many, many different friends. Teaching young children how a friend acts and behaves are founda-tional life lessons. What a great gift we are giving young children early in life by teaching them ways tobe respectful of one another and to take responsibility for their friendships. It involves taking the timeto get to know one another and practicing both mindful and active listening. Essential VocabularyRespect: Behaving and thinking in ways that show admiration, value, and care for other people, places, and things.Friendship: a relationship of mutual affection between people.© 2017 Empowering Education, Inc. PAGE 1 of 2 All rights reserved.

MINDFUL FRIENDSHIPS | GRADES K-2 PracticeSit face-to-face with your student and have a conversation with one another about what makes you similarand what makes you different. These can be internal attributes (example: likes and dislikes, values, emotions,personality) or external attributes (example: appearance, physical abilities, style choices). Create a list of howyou are similar and how you are different, then take time to respect and celebrate both your differences andsimilarities. Student Resources • A Rainbow of Friends (Picture Book) by PK Hllinan • All Kinds of Friends, Even Green! (Picture Book) by Ellen B. Senisi• I Have the Right to Be a Child (Picture Book) by Alain Serres• Let’s Talk About Race (Picture Book) by Julius Lester• The Streets Are Free (Picture Book) by Kurusa• We’re Different, We’re the Same (Picture Book) by Bobbi Kates Adult Resources• Teaching for Change - Building Social Justice Starting in the Classroom (Website)• Teaching Tolerance Classroom Resources (Website)© 2017 Empowering Education, Inc. PAGE 2 of 2 All rights reserved.