PBL Project - Relational Health between Children
For my PBL project, my target grade level is 1st grade. The topic my project covers is relational health between children. There are quite a few standards I am targeting. All are of a 1st grade level, and they are all language arts standards. The standards are listed here:
1.W.3.2 – Develop a topic sentence or main idea, provide some facts or details about the topic, and provide a concluding statement.
1.W.5 – With support, conduct simple research on a topic (identify several sources of information and indicate the sources, organize information using graphic organizers or other aids, make informal presentations on information gathered).
1.SL.2.1 – Participate in collaborative conversations about grade-appropriate topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.
1.SL.2.3 – Listen to others, take turns speaking about the topic, and add one’s own ideas in small group discussions or tasks.
1.SL.2.5 – Build on others’ talk in conversations by responding to the comments of others though multiple exchanges.
Driving Question: What does it mean to be a good friend?
Grabber: Teacher will begin by using puppets to demonstrate a few different situations in which good friendship and bad friendship are displayed. There will be at least one of each situation. The use of puppets will be a good way to capture the attention of the children, and it will hold their attention more than an article or speech simply by the teacher. The situations demonstrated will get the children thinking about what different kinds of friendship look like, and they will be able to connect the scenarios to their own friendships and experiences.
The children will then be asked to get into groups and talk about what they observed and which examples demonstrated good or bad friendship and why. After group discussion, the whole class will come together to discuss their thoughts and feelings on the puppet shows. Once all thoughts have been heard, the teacher will present the driving question, "What does it mean to be a good friend?" The children can then use this question to guide them in deciding which scenario demonstrated being a good friend.
Culminating Activity: This activity is adapted from a group activity presented on http://www.goodcharacter.com/YCC/BeingFriends.html
The children will be put into groups of four or more, depending on how many children are in the class. Each group will have one child that is designated as the "new kid". This child will be acting as a new student joining the class. The rest of the children are acting as a group of friends within the class, a group that the new classmate wants to join. The group's job is to come up with a "play" of their own, in which they portray their idea of what being a good friend looks like. They will draw on the knowledge they have gained from the class discussion, their research, and their own experiences to determine how a good friend would act in such a situation.
There will also be markers and a poster board with the title "Being a Good Friend Is...", and after each group presents their play, the rest of the class will add examples they saw to the board using the markers. This poster board can then be hung up on a wall in the classroom to remind the children what they learned and how they should be treating their friends all the time.