Year 3 Friendology

Friendships are a complex issue for young children to navigate. Learning to overcome, respond and take responsibility in friendship issues is something children need to continually develop and practise. This term, Year 3 has been implementing the URStrong Program ‘Friendology’ in their PDH lessons. This program is designed to enhance the social-emotional wellbeing of students through friendship skills. It aims to support students to maintain healthy relationships, manage conflict with kindness and increase their overall resilience.

Over the past two weeks students in 3 Thiele have been learning about their ‘Inner-Ninja’ – how to recognise their feelings and tame their butterflies when they are experiencing large emotions. Students have learned how to reflect on uncomfortable emotions, sort their butterflies into worries they can control versus ones they cannot control and learned strategies to calm negative feelings and catastrophic thinking. 

The students of 3 Paterson and 3 Lawson have focused on the Friendology terms of Friendship – Fire (Incidents that occur with no direct intent to upset or hurt anyone) and Mean On Purpose Behaviours (intentional hurtful acts). Students explored the meanings of these words, their differences and how they occur in everyday play and interactions with friends. After exploring a range of different scenarios and discussing how the students would deal with each situation appropriately students were placed into small groups to create a role play of their own friendship fire or mean on purpose behaviour. After creating the role play students explained the situation and defined it as a friendship fire or mean on purpose scenario. They described how quick comebacks and appropriate reporting to an adult or teacher were used to resolve the conflict. The students were encouraged to use these strategies in their daily play and learning.

Joanne Giannini
Head of Primary P-4