In our first unit, we will focus on the theme of friendship. Our central idea is “Making friends,” and we will explore two lines of inquiry: “What is a friend?” and “How do we make friends?” Through these lines of\u00a0inquiry, we hope to gain a deeper understanding of the importance of friendship and how to cultivate meaningful connections with others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What is a friend?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n At the start of our unit, we asked the students, “What is a friend?”. We received several lovely answers from them, such as being nice to everyone, caring about others, playing with them, and saying “I like you” instead of “I don’t like you.” While some students were more enthusiastic than others, we gave everyone a chance to share their thoughts during our conversations. The next day, we reflected on our discussion by creating drawings of what a friend should be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What makes a good friend?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Our next question was, “What makes a good friend?” How do they want their friends to behave, and what do they like about what their friends do? We had another discussion followed by some light roleplay. I’m happy to say that our Shooting Star kids always come up with many nice answers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are some of the things they came up with:<\/p>\n\n\n\n New class groups<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n We created new class groups based on our UOI. We split the class into three groups and then asked the group members what they wanted their team name to be. The first group came up with “Heart”. They said, “Because we like our friends,” when asked why. The second team talked about how they like to drink together and wanted to name their team after a juice. After some discussion, they agreed to the name “Lemonade.” One of the members of the third team suggested that they call their team “Whale Shark” because her friends like whale sharks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We made a beautiful shooting star using black paper and star-shaped cutouts in our craft activity. The students traced around the stars with chalk to give them a more dreamy and celestial look. The result was truly stunning, and seeing the kids’ creativity shine through their artwork was a joy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We spent a lot of time outside and at the park having fun playing in the nice weather. The kids enjoyed picking up flowers and observing the ants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/isnedu.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/2024-04-16-10.49.40-1024x498.jpg\")
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Shooting Star crafts<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\nOutside fun<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n