Activity: This song is a great followup to a week of stories about friendship from valuesandvirtues.org. Students enjoy learning this well-known song and acting it out. They are guided to invent actions to go with the song, memorize the lyrics, and hopefully perform it for an audience. If the students come from a variety of ethnic backgrounds, and have access to native costumes, they can dress up for the performance.
Materials needed: the video; space for dancing to the music
Directions: Invite students to watch the video, “It’s a Small World After All.” At circle time, guide a discussion about the lyrics in the song, emphasizing that the words encourage us to be like a big family and make friends with people all over the world. Ask students to tell you what they’ve learned so far about what is needed to make a friend. Ask them what they learned about friendship from each story they read in class. If they need a prompt, help them remember. In “Frog and Toad”, Frog helps Toad get out of bed and then later on, when Toad loses a button, Frog helps him find it. In “Sorry Really Sorry”, Cow takes out her anger on her friends, but later on she realizes she needs to apologize. In “How I Made a Friend”, Willy is friendless until he meets Olly who likes to make scary masks, just like Willy. In “My Way to Making Friends”, Melissa has a dream that helps her learn that she has to be a friend others can rely on. Lead students in a brainstorming session to determine movements to accompany the lyrics and practice the song with the actions a few times, hopefully for a performance!
Wrap it up: Encourage students to practice what they’ve learned about making and keeping friends. Here are some reminders: (1) don’t be shy, introduce yourself, (2) find something you both like to do, (3) apologize if you’ve hurt someone’s feelings, (4) if you’re upset, let others know why, (5) be willing to forgive someone who’s hurt your feelings. Young children are just learning about making friends and they need a lot of reminders and support throughout the year.
Related resource: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9YqCP_B7EU&t=16s
Activity: This song is a great followup to a week of stories about friendship from valuesandvirtues.org. Students enjoy learning this well-known song and acting it out. They are guided to invent actions to go with the song, memorize the lyrics, and hopefully perform it for an audience. If the students come from a variety of ethnic backgrounds, and have access to native costumes, they can dress up for the performance.
Materials needed: the video; space for dancing to the music
Directions: Invite students to watch the video, “It’s a Small World After All.” At circle time, guide a discussion about the lyrics in the song, emphasizing that the words encourage us to be like a big family and make friends with people all over the world. Ask students to tell you what they’ve learned so far about what is needed to make a friend. Ask them what they learned about friendship from each story they read in class. If they need a prompt, help them remember. In “Frog and Toad”, Frog helps Toad get out of bed and then later on, when Toad loses a button, Frog helps him find it. In “Sorry Really Sorry”, Cow takes out her anger on her friends, but later on she realizes she needs to apologize. In “How I Made a Friend”, Willy is friendless until he meets Olly who likes to make scary masks, just like Willy. In “My Way to Making Friends”, Melissa has a dream that helps her learn that she has to be a friend others can rely on. Lead students in a brainstorming session to determine movements to accompany the lyrics and practice the song with the actions a few times, hopefully for a performance!
Wrap it up: Encourage students to practice what they’ve learned about making and keeping friends. Here are some reminders: (1) don’t be shy, introduce yourself, (2) find something you both like to do, (3) apologize if you’ve hurt someone’s feelings, (4) if you’re upset, let others know why, (5) be willing to forgive someone who’s hurt your feelings. Young children are just learning about making friends and they need a lot of reminders and support throughout the year.
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