Hello readers and thank you for stopping by my blog Be The Difference. I am a children’s book author and mother to three young children. I am dedicated to spreading the important messages in my books to children around the world. I strive to make a difference in my own home by spending time teaching my children character traits using age appropriate activities and quality children’s literature. I am sharing these lessons with you, week-by-week so that you can do the same. Let’s provide our children with tools they can use when they go out into the world and face difficult situations. Let’s give them a chance to grow up to be Problem Solvers! I would love to connect with you and continue this conversation—please see links at the bottom of this post— 🙂 Maria Dismondy
What is Friendship?
Spending time together.
Sharing ideas and treats.
Having fun.
Respecting each other’s differences.
Loyalty, sticking up for each other.
Caring for each other’s safety and wellbeing.
Both of you working on the skills to keep your friendship going.
From www.cyh.com
Book I am using with this lesson:
How I used this book to teach the trait Friendship
Swimmy is a fish who swam alone. He discovered the power of friendship when his new friends worked together to team up and survive the BIG FISH!
Book: Read or listen to the book with your child.
Discuss: Ask your child what it means to be a friend. What does it mean to be a team or to help each other? How did Swimmy and his friends help each other out?
Snack: Eat goldfish crackers. You can use a long pretzel rod to “Go Fishing” and dip it into peanut butter, then dip the peanut butter to scoop up the “fish” crackers.
Craft: Create a craft of a fish—there are so many to choose from!
Activity: Write a letter to a friend. Talk about a friend your child cares about. What do they like about their friend? Help them write a letter to a friend. If your child is writing independently, check out the letter writing paper found in my TpT store below. Be sure to follow through with your child and put the letter in the mail to their special friend!
Product I’ve created to go along with this lesson: Letter Writing in my Tpt Store Be The Difference
Video to teach friendship skills that we LOVE!
Music to inspire and teach this trait: Count on Me by Bruno Mars
To find out more about how you can teach character to your students or children:
https://www.pinterest.com/mariadismondy/character-development/
Learn more about the #TakingCareThurs initiative here: http://journaloflaura.weebly.com/what-is-takingcarethurs.html
Continue this conversation on character by joining our Private Facebook Group here https://mariadismondy.com/resources/
Visit my TeachersPayTeacher Store to see products to help support character education: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Be-The-Difference