Teaching friendship skills is important for our children’s social-emotional development and overall well-being. It helps them learn essential life skills like effective communication, being inclusive, empathy, conflict resolution, and teamwork. This builds the foundation for healthy social interactions and positive relationships.
Ms. Jenefer’s TK/K class at Potomac Village created friendship shirts. They started by reading the book Love Ninja and discussed how you can love not just your family, but your friends too; how friendship means sharing and giving compliments; and how it makes someone feel when you are a good friend. After the story, the students signed and customized a drawing for each friend on a T-shirt. The creativity and personal thought given to each drawing was amazing but witnessing the smiles and joy it brought to each of them was truly exceptional.
Ms. Ashley’s Darnestown TK class created clay “friendship” sculptures of a peer and wrote a compliment about them to go with it. They started the lesson by passing around a “kindness stone” and giving the friend next to them a compliment. We heard “you make good art”, “you are a good friend to play with outside”, “you wear cool clothing” and (to Ms. Ashley), “you are so beautiful!” When asked how they felt after hearing the compliment, the children replied “happy, noticed, excited, and it filled my bucket.” Their sense of belonging, security and value was evident by each child’s smile.
