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Pre-k, Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, 3rd Grades  Project 5 weeks

Friendship Fix: School SEL Opportunities

Anne S
Updated
P-SE.5b
P-SE.5a
P-SE.3a
P-SE.3b
P-SE.1a
+ 11 more
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Purpose

Students investigate the question, “What does a good friend do during play, work, and shared spaces at school?” by practicing turn taking, communication, and identifying small problems versus big problems in a daily Lunch Bunch routine. Over five weeks, they build friendship skills with classmates, staff, and families through partner games, shared decision-making, behavior goals, and reflection after group work. The project helps children strengthen belonging, empathy, and conflict-solving while creating friendship posters for the school and working toward a certificate celebration. Progress is measured through a pre- and post-quiz, SEL reflections, and behavior goal data.

Learning goals

Students will practice school-readiness friendship skills by taking turns, sharing materials, using kind words, and following behavior expectations in play, work, lunch, and other shared spaces. They will identify small problems versus big problems, communicate feelings and needs, listen to others, and use simple conflict-resolution strategies with decreasing adult support. Students will set and reflect on personal SEL behavior goals, use feedback from teachers and peers, and contribute to friendship posters that teach school norms to others. Over the 5 weeks, they will build a stronger sense of belonging and show growth through pre/post check-ins, behavior-goal data, group reflections, and participation in the final certificate celebration.

Standards
  • [Head Start] P-SE.5b - (48 to 60 Months) Often recognizes and describes social problems, suggests solutions to conflicts, and compromises when working or playing in a group. Although simple conflicts may be resolved without adult assistance, may seek out or need adult support in more challenging moments.
  • [Head Start] P-SE.5a - (36 to 48 Months) Begins to recognize and describe social problems. Suggests solutions to conflicts with adult guidance and support.
  • [Head Start] P-SE.3a - (36 to 48 Months) Sometimes engages in and maintains interactions with other children without support from an adult, or demonstrates skills in doing this when prompted by an adult. May spontaneously engage in prosocial behaviors with other children, such as sharing and taking turns with materials and in conversations, or may engage in these with prompting from adults.
  • [Head Start] P-SE.3b - (48 to 60 Months) Sustains interactions with other children more often and for increasing periods of time. Demonstrates prosocial behaviors with other children with and without prompting from adults. Likely to show at least some preference for playing with particular children.
  • [Head Start] P-SE.1a - (36 to 48 Months) Engages in positive interactions with adults, such as by demonstrating affection or talking about ideas. Is able to separate from trusted adults when in familiar settings. Uses adults as a resource to solve problems.
  • [Head Start] P-SE.2a - (36 to 48 Months) Sometimes engages in prosocial behavior with adults, such as greeting the teacher or saying goodbye, and responds to adult requests and directions that may include assistance or prompting. Sometimes demonstrates uncooperative behavior with familiar adults, such as saying "No" to requests, but these moments are typically resolved with support from adults.
  • [Head Start] P-SE.11b - (48 to 60 Months) Has a sense of belonging to family and community and communicates details about these connections, such as sharing a story about a family gathering, both spontaneously and when prompted by an adult or other child.
  • [Head Start] P-SE.10b - (48 to 60 Months) Enjoys accomplishing a greater number of tasks and sharing these accomplishments with other children and adults. Makes increasing number of contributions to group discussion and may share ideas with or without adult prompting.
  • [Head Start] P-SE.7b - (48 to 60 Months) Consistently pays attention when others are distressed and often responds with care, either by seeking out adult support or providing reassurance or support themselves.
  • [Head Start] P-SE.1b - (48 to 60 Months) Clearly shows enjoyment in interactions with trusted adults while also demonstrating skill in separating from these adults with minimal distress when in a familiar setting. Initiates interactions with adults and participates in longer and more reciprocal interactions with both trusted and new adults.
Competencies
  • Collaboration - Students co-design projects with peers, exercise shared-decision making, strengthen relational agency, resolve conflict, and assume leadership roles.
  • Effective Communication - Students practice listening to understand, communicating with empathy, and share their learning through exhibiting, presenting and reflecting on their work.
  • Self Directed Learning - Students use teacher and peer feedback and self-reflection to monitor and direct their own learning while building self knowledge both in and out of the classroom.
  • Academic Mindset - Students establish a sense of place, identity, and belonging to increase self-efficacy while engaging in critical reflection and action.
  • Content Expertise - Students develop key competencies, skills, and dispositions with ample opportunities to apply knowledge and engage in work that matters to them.
  • Critical Thinking & Problem Solving - Students consider a variety of innovative approaches to address and understand complex questions that are authentic and important to their communities.

Products

Students will create friendship posters for hallways, classrooms, and shared spaces that show behavior expectations and norms such as taking turns, using kind words, solving small problems, and asking for help with big problems. Throughout the five weeks, they will also make simple goal cards, role-play cue cards, and class-made anchor charts that capture what a good friend does during play, work, lunch, and transitions. In Lunch Bunch, students will contribute to a shared friendship toolkit with sentence stems, visuals, and partner game choices they can use to practice SEL skills. By the end, each student will share a personal friendship goal and receive a certificate during the final celebration.

Launch

Begin with a Lunch Bunch Launch Party where students join a special friendship table with music, a shared snack routine, and simple partner games that require turn-taking, greeting, and kind words. Introduce the question, “What does a good friend do during play, work, and shared spaces at school?” and let students act out short school scenarios about sharing, waiting, and solving small problems. Students help name friendship norms for the group, set one simple behavior goal, and complete a quick picture-based pre-quiz about friendship choices. Invite families, staff, or older student helpers to join briefly so children see that friendship skills matter across the whole school community.

Exhibition

End with a Friendship Celebration during Lunch Bunch where students lead a friendly table routine, model turn-taking, kind words, and problem-solving strategies, and explain their friendship posters to classmates, families, and school staff. Display the posters in the cafeteria, hallways, or classroom doors as a schoolwide reminder of behavior expectations and norms for play, work, and shared spaces. Students can receive their certificates during the event and share one personal growth goal they reached and one friendship goal they will keep practicing. Invite parents, staff, and peer classmates to leave simple positive feedback on sticky notes or a class “good friend” board to honor each student’s progress.