Friendship Lesson

We have been having some fantastic lessons on friendship this year!  Today we did one of my favorites  - the Wrinkled Heart.  We started by passing out a small paper heart with a poem on it.

We then read the book Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes.  In this book, a small mouse loves her unique name until she goes to school and the other children make fun of her.  She continues to have her feelings hurt because of the unkind words of her classmates.  When she goes home, her parents remind her that she has a special and beautiful name. 

 

As we read the book, we crumpled up our paper hearts a little bit every time someone hurt her feelings, and spread it back out when someone did something kind for her.  

In the end, her teacher helps the other children appreciate Chrysanthemum's unique name.  They even ask to be called by their own flower nicknames, which makes Chrysanthemum very happy!

The class noticed that even though Chrysanthemum felt better at the end of the story, our hearts were still wrinkled.  No matter how hard we tried to flatten them, they never went back exactly how they were.  We then discussed how our actions and words can have a lasting effect on our friends, so we should always try our best to use kindness and respect with those around us. 

I think that the children really understood the message of this lesson and went on to discuss how we could show our Harlan Habits at Field Day.  Great job, 1st Graders!