As a Girl Scout Brownie, one of our staple songs went like this:
"Make new friends, but keep the old,
one is silver and the other is gold."
I welcome you to my blog spot as treasures - silvery new friends and golden oldies!
Maybe this is a thought that we can share with our students this week. As a middle school teacher, I would often see students make friends, and then drop them just as quickly. I know that they didn't always do it on purpose, sometimes the sheer eagerness to do new things with new people could distract them from being faithful to older friends. However, whether dropping a friend was a calculated move or a spontaneous decision, its result was the still the same - terrible heartache for the friend left behind. Here's an idea:
Behold: A Science Experiment
Create a basic science experiment using lima bean plants (or any other easy plant) -
1. Have two identical plants that grow easily (lima beans, for example)
2. Explain to students that one plant will have everything that it needs to grow (control)
and one will have everything it needs except water (variable).
3. Have students address the hypothesis to
"How Will Water Effect the Growth of a Plant?" and predict what will happen to the variable.
4. Have students measure growth of plant over 2-3 week period.
5. Develop results and conclusion.
6. Have a discussion with students about the findings of the plant experiment.
7. Now, tell the students to replace the plants with people, and the water for friendship.
8. Have students discuss a hypothesis for the second experiment,
"How will Lack of Attention Effect the Growth of a Friendship?"and then discuss their idea of how second experiment would end. You may have students create an illustration or a Venn diagram to compare findings for each experiment.
Do you think your students will get the message?
What's teaching without homework?
Share your experience: How do you teach social lessons to your students?
