Teaching Values

"Create a caring and supportive school and classroom environment with a focus on social values and behaviours that make it less likely that students will behave in anti-social ways. Through teaching these values we hope to emphasis the importance of harmony (getting along well), collaborating, treating other people fairly and kindly, and sorting out social problems in a manner that maintains friendliness and peace" (Bounce Back K-2 Handbook, pg 6, Helen McGrath and Tony Nobel).

Think-Pair-Share and Class discussion about what students think honesty is.

As a class construct a Y chart about what honesty looks like, sounds like and feels like.

Discuss.

Define Honesty

Show students 'Honesty Song' on YouTube.

After having a discussion about the lyrics and what honesty means, create a class constructed definition of what being honest means.

Honesty Scenarios/ Concept Attainment

Teach students about concept attainment. Then ask students to complete concept attainment for honesty.

Give students Bounce Back handout BLM1.1 Honesty Cartoons to complete. They are required to colour in the speech bubble of the character who is being honest.

Share findings as a class.

Get students into groups of 4. Tell them that they will be working cooperatively together to create and perform a short role play.

Ask students to think about a time when they had to be honest.

Students act out the scene with 2 different endings...1- them being honest about what happened and 2 - them being dishonest about what happened.

At the end of each performance, have a class discussion about who wins and loses in each scenario and why it is important to be honest.

As an introduction to the value 'fairness'. First ask all girls to sit on the floor and the boys to sit on chairs. Then give 5 students only a lolly whilst the other miss out (make sure they all receive one by the end of the lesson). Then ask 5 kids to come and play Silent Ball with you whilst the others just watch.

Talk to students about how each of the scenarios made them feel and then ask them to try and identify the core value of the lesson (fairness).

Think-Pair-Share and Class discussion about what students think fairness is.

Have a class brainstorm about what fairness is. Discuss.

Define Fairness

Show students 'Treat Others the Way you Wish to be Treated' on YouTube.

After having a discussion about the lyrics and what fairness means, create a class constructed definition for 'fairness'.

Fair and Unfair Scenarios

Provide students with various scenarios. Students will be using these to participate in the Kagan Structure Numbered Heads Together, to discuss what they would do in each scenario.

Have members from each group share responses.

Students then come up with their own scenarios to discuss.

Play the Responsibility Song on Youtube.

After listening to the song, ask the students what they think the main value of the song was?

Have students participate in a the Kagan Structure Mix-Freeze-Group (6.29), to discuss the following question; what is responsibility? how can you be responsible at school? what are some ways that people are not responsible? do you think it's important to be responsible, why/why not? what may happen if people aren't responsible?

Have a class discussion about responses.

After discussion, create a class constructed definition of what responsibility means.

Class Book: Responsibility

Have a class brainstorm by using the Kagan Structure Inside-Outside-Circle to share and discuss the various ways that we can be responsible at school. Then add these ideas to a class chart title 'How (class name) are responsible'.

Tell students that they are each going to make a page for our class Responsibility book. Ask them to think of just 1 way that they can be responsible at school. You may like to use the sentence starter 'I am responsible at school when _____________________'. Ask students to write 1 or 2 sentences and to draw and colour an illustration of how they're responsible.

Combine all the students work together to form a class Responsibility book. Have students take it in turns to make the front and back cover of the book.

Once book is complete, read to the class or have students read their pages. Share and celebrate:-)

What is support?

Watch the clip from Winnie the Pooh, where Pooh and his friends try to cheer Eeyore up.

Think-Pair-Share: What are Pooh and his friends doing to help Eeyore? Are they being kind and compassionate?

Discuss the value ‘Support’ – how do you feel when you are supported? You feel like you belong, you feel like people care, you feel like you loved.

Why is it important to support others? Why is it important to feel supported?

In cooperative learning teams (table groups) students participate in Kagan Structure All-Write-Round-Robin and write down any ideas (or draw) of what they think support means. Groups then share responses in order to create a class constructed definition of what honest means.

Ways to Cheer Up Friends

Activity: ’7 ways to cheer up a friend’. Ask students to think of ways that they can cheer up their friends when they are feeling sad. Tell students that they are going to complete the activity on number templates 1-7. Ask them to write the ways on 1 side and to illustrate them on the other. These will be displayed in class as a resource that students can access whenever they need an idea of how to support and cheer up a friend.

Introduce the ‘Cheer Up Chicken’ to the class. Explain that Cheer up Chicken is there to support us when we feel sad or lonely. Tell students that we can all be like Cheer up Chicken and support our peers, just by ‘being there’ and ‘listening’.

Note: Cheer Up Chicken is a stuffed chicken toy.

Tell students that if they are ever in need of a hug or need cheering up that they can give the chicken a cuddle.

Note to Cheer Up Chicken: Tell students that they are going to write a letter to Cheer Up Chicken (using the template given) to introduce themselves and do tell him/her how they like to be cheered up when they are feeling sad.

Tell students that throughout the year they can place letters in Cheer Up Chicken's letter box about situations that are or have been making them feel sad at home, in the playground, or in the classroom.

Engage students in the lesson by viewing a short clip that shows kids cooperating.

Cooperation Puzzle: Make a giant cooperation sign and cut it into pieces (enough so that each student has 1 piece). Give a piece to each student. Students then need to 'cooperate' to put it back together to reveal the value that is going to be taught.

Think-Pair- Share and Class discussion about what students think cooperation is.

As a class construct a Y chart about what cooperation looks like, sounds like and feels like.

Play the We Cooperate song.

Have a class discussion about the ways the song mentions that we can cooperate.

Then as a class learn the song.

As a class discuss and complete agreed upon criteria to form a class Code of cooperation. Once written get every student to sign it.

BLM 1.5 communities and teams: ‘what would happen if these people didn’t cooperate…’ (theorising)

What happens when people don't cooperate?

Students complete BLM 1.5 communities and teams: ‘what would happen if these people didn’t cooperate…’

Play the We Show Tolerance song. 

Think-Pair- Share and Class discussion about what students think the clip was about.

Concept Attainment: Show the class the Acceptance of Differences Concept Attainment Chart. Read the examples to students and then ask then to discuss with their shoulder buddy which column they think is the examples and which is the non-examples. Label and colour code columns.

Acceptance of Differences

Watch the following 2 clips – song ‘It is Okay to be Different’ and ‘Who Says’.

Ask students to discuss what the main ideas were in the clips.

Class Discussion: What does accepting it is okay to be different mean? Discuss not only that we are all different, but also that differences can be VALUED. It is GOOD that we are all different, because it makes life interesting and exciting.

Bounce Back Activity BLM 07 – People Hunt – Differences… E.g: Find someone who has a different number of pets to you…

Give students an orientation to Anthony Browne's book called Piggybook. Tell them that you are going to share with them a students about a family with a Mum, Dad and 2 sons and that in the story one of the characters isn't treated very nicely or fairly. Tell them to think about what the value being taught in the story is whilst you are reading. Read the book to the class.

Ask students to first think-pair and then share about the following question...What do you think the value is in this book?

Prompt if necessary: Respect of Self, Respect of Others

Create a class constructed definition for respect

Discuss: How do we show respect at school? How do we show respect at home? Why is respect important? What would happen if we did not respect ourselves? What would happen if we did not respect others?

Play Respect Song (related to school).

Talk about the ways that respect was shown in the song.

Then use some of these ideas and others that students have to create an acrostic poem for respect in cooperative learning teams.

Play the Ugly Duckling clip (8min).

Discussion questions: How do you think the Ugly Duckling would have felt? How would you feel if you were him? Do you think it was fair how he was treated? How you ever felt like this on the playground? How could the ducklings have been kinder? How could they have been a better friend?

Students complete a drawing activity were they illustrate what happened to the duckling and then what should have happend/ how the ducklings could have by friendly and included him.

The Bat Story: Friendliness and Inclusion

Tell students that they are going to watch a story, The Bat Story, about a character called Bat and that they'll find out how he felt when he was left out. Note: Bat story is a folk story that is told in many places around the world. In this video the story is told by Donna Jacobs Sife.

Use the following discussion questions.

Then using the bat template students are to write and draw what happened to bat in the story on one side (he was excluded and his friends weren't friendly) and then a short story where bat is included and his friends are friendly on the other side. Suggestions: Students may like to use warm colours (excluded) on one side and cool on the other (included).

Role Play Scenarios

Organise students in cooperative learning teams (groups of 4). Give each group the name of one of the values covered throughout this unit Values to the Core! In their groups students then need to come up with a role play that depicts the value that they were given.

Groups then perform their role plays for the class. The class has to try and guess what the groups value was.

Students complete Bounce Back Crossword - BLM09.