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4th, 5th Grades  Project 3 weeks

The Friendship Formula

Carlos R
Updated
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.3.1
TH:Pr6.3.a
TH:Cn11.1.3.a
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.3.3
TH:Cn10.3.a
+ 5 more
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Purpose

Students explore why people value qualities like respect, kindness, and honesty by examining how characters build healthy relationships through words, choices, and actions. Through discussion, sorting picture cards, partner skits, and poster creation, they practice describing character traits, listening to others, and clearly explaining their thinking with evidence from stories and personal experience. The work leads to a Respect Walk Gallery for families, where students share what they learned through performance, reflection, and a ClassDojo presentation.

Learning goals

Students will describe character traits, feelings, and motivations and explain how actions show respect, kindness, and honesty in relationships. They will practice sorting picture cards, labeling ideas clearly, and using short sentences and discussion evidence to explain their thinking with partners and the class. Students will collaborate to revise their work with a checklist, reflect on feedback, and prepare a clear video and live presentation for families. They will also connect relationship choices in stories and skits to their own lives, classroom community, and home experiences.

Standards
  • [Common Core] CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.3.1 - Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 3 topics and texts, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.
  • [National Core Arts Standards] TH:Pr6.3.a - Practice drama/theatre work and share reflections individually and in small groups.
  • [National Core Arts Standards] TH:Cn11.1.3.a - Identify connections to community, social issues and other content areas in drama/theatre work.
  • [Common Core] CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.3.3 - Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.
  • [National Core Arts Standards] TH:Cn10.3.a - Use personal experiences and knowledge to make connections to community and culture in a drama/theatre work.
Competencies
  • Effective Communication - Students practice listening to understand, communicating with empathy, and share their learning through exhibiting, presenting and reflecting on their work.
  • Collaboration - Students co-design projects with peers, exercise shared-decision making, strengthen relational agency, resolve conflict, and assume leadership roles.
  • 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.
  • Content Expertise - Students develop key competencies, skills, and dispositions with ample opportunities to apply knowledge and engage in work that matters to them.
  • 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.

Products

Students will create picture-card sorts, partner discussion notes, and draft labels during the Kindness Kickoff Circle and revision rounds. In pairs, they will develop a character poster that organizes actions into respect, kindness, and honesty with clear labels and short written sentences about each action. They will also prepare quick partner skits and a short video presentation to explain their thinking and share reflections. The final products are the completed character poster for the Respect Walk Gallery, the skit performance for parents, a student written reflection, and a ClassDojo presentation.

Launch

Open with a Kindness Kickoff Circle where students share brief real-life examples of respect, kindness, and honesty in friendships, family, and classroom relationships. Then give pairs picture cards of character actions to sort into the three qualities, using talk moves to explain their choices and build on each other’s ideas. Read a short mentor text or act out quick teacher-led scenarios so students can identify character traits, feelings, and motivations and connect them to community and home experiences. Close by introducing the Respect Walk Gallery challenge: each pair will create a character poster, revise it with a checklist, and later share it with parents through skits, written reflections, and a ClassDojo presentation.

Exhibition

Host a Respect Walk Gallery where students display their character posters with sorted picture cards, labels, and short sentences about respectful, kind, and honest actions. Invite parents to walk through the gallery as pairs of students present brief partner skits showing relationship choices and explain how character actions connect to feelings, traits, and events. End the event with students sharing a short written reflection and uploading or showing a ClassDojo presentation with photos, voice recordings, or video clips from the project.