TITLE: A FRIENDSHIP CHAIN
AUTHOR: Trudy White, St. Charles Borromeo Catholic
School; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
OBJECTIVE: To facilitate students' ability to express
positive feelings towards another person and to build class
unity.
MATERIALS: Strips of white paper, 3" x 14"
Crayons or colored markers
Stapler
ACTIVITIES AND PROCEDURES:
1. Review lessons on "saying nice things" and on
attributes of a good friend.
2. Ask students to think about the person seated on their
left and to brainstorm as many positive attributes as
they can about that individual. The teacher might
demonstrate by brainstorming on the board about someone
whom they all know, the P.E. teacher or the principal,
for instance. Emphasize the importance of listing only
positive characteristics, and ask students to keep
their lists private for the moment.
3. Pass out strips of paper, one to each student.
4. Explain that the strips will be decorated and then
stapled together to make a chain similar to ones used
to decorate Christmas trees. This chain, however, will
be a visual representation of the friendships which
bind the class together. Each strip of paper
represents a link in this chain of friendship and is
crucial to the completeness of the whole.
5. Tell the students to write on their strip of paper the
name of the person to their left. Encourage them to
use decorative or "fancy" lettering. They are then to
choose from their brainstorming list some of the most
important attributes of this person to also write or
illustrate on the strip. Strips should be colored
and/or decorated as each student chooses.
6. The teacher should circulate around the class to make
sure comments being written are indeed positive!
7. After the teacher has made a check of each link, have a
sharing circle in which each student reads and presents
to the person on his/her left the chain link which is
then stapled to the next link as it is presented.
8. The finished chain could be joined in a circle to
further emphasize the importance of each link to the
unity of the chain. The chain should then be displayed
in a prominent place in the classroom.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The teacher should manipulate the seating
arrangement before the lesson begins to insure that
individuals who have strong negative feelings about each
other are not seated together. It may also be necessary for
the teacher to be involved in the making of the chain by
exchanging links with the student who is unlikely to say
anything nice about anyone else or to have anything nice
said about him/her!
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