Frienship Formative Assessment

Group Poster: Who is your friend and why?
together with the Fire group

The "Friendship Unit" is a wonderful way to start the school year as relationships between new and familiar faces unfold and deepen through the months to come. 

During our formative assessment the children were asked to carefully think about one special friend they have in their life and draw (or decorate) that person on a cut-out ginger bread paper. Then one by one I asked them who this person is and why they are a friend to them. Most of the children quickly responded with names but when asked "why" many replied "I don't know..." so I re-phrased my question into:  What do they do that is special? What do you do with them that is special?
Damon: Kesler is my friend because he plays with me
William: Matthew is my friend because he plays tag with me
Ryleigh: Allye is my friend because I help push her on the tire swing
Sofia: Lauren is my friend because she is kind to me and when she hugs me we all fall down!
Keira: My mum is my friend because she likes to cuddle me all day.
Allye: Aston is my friend because I love him so much. Nico: I'm not sure if I have a friend.


 The children described how friendship might look like. Friendship is spending time with someone you like it could be playtime or having long cuddles.  A friend is someone you have something in common with and someone who is kind to you. It can be someone from school or a family member. 

 For the next 7 weeks the children will explore the following lines of inquiry and questions 
to help deepen their understanding of friendship:

 Inquiry into:
- the role of friendships play in our lives
-the giving and receiving of friendship
-the expectations in friendships

 Questions: 
-Does friendship matter?
-What does friendship feel like?
-Are there rules of friendship?

 For next week we will focus on the qualities of a friend. What sort of qualities they look for in a friend? 

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