Citizenship – Developing good relationships and respecting the differences between people

Resources needed:

  • Sticks of chalk
  • A3 pieces of coloured paper
  • White sticker labels printed or written with positive statements such as ‘good friend’ or ‘good at sharing’ or ‘a fair person’ (at least 10 or 20 of each statement, depending on class size)
  • Other positive stickers.

 

 

  1. Sit the children in a circle and ask them to think about one thing they could say about themselves. This could be the colour of their eyes, how many siblings they have, their favourite food or a game they enjoy.
  2. Go around the circle asking each child to say their fact (model how this should be done succinctly at the very beginning, perhaps by giving your own fact)
  3. Ask the children what they noticed – that everyone said different things? There may be some repetition, but hopefully not too much.
  4. Now take the children outside and draw a very large Venn diagram (with two overlapping sets contained in a box).
  5. Point to one of the sets and call it ‘roast chicken’ and point to the other and call it ‘roast beef’. The children should now position themselves according to if they like chicken, beef, both (in the overlap) or neither (outside of the sets but within the box).
  6. Challenge anyone who criticises others for their choices.
  7. Repeat the activity a few times, using different categories: TV programmes, siblings, colour preferences etc.

 

 

Teaching point: some children may go where their friends go. Encourage them to position themselves according to their preferences, not those of their friends!

  1. Return to the classroom and give each child a piece of paper. Show them the sets of stickers and explain to any less able readers what they all say.
  2. The children should hold their piece of paper to their back (you can tape it to their shoulders with masking tape if appropriate). The children should then take a sticker which they think applies to a fellow class member and stick it to their paper.
  3. Encourage the children to stick as many stickers to others’ sheets as they can. They shouldn’t tell the recipient what they are sticking as they do so. Monitor this sticking activity so that all children get roughly the same number of stickers (get involved in some sticking if necessary. More able/older children could be encouraged to write positive messages as well as sticking stickers.
  4. Sit down as a class and look at the sheets. They should be filled with positive statements.

Recap how everyone may be very different, but that everyone is valued by others.

 

 

Further Activities:

Make a class book of kindness documenting all the kind deeds carried out by the children over a term. These could take the form of drawings, notes, photographs or commendations from other children/staff in school.

Have a jar of lolly sticks (one per child, each with their name on). At the beginning of each day, draw out two sticks at random. The two names pulled should try to do kind deeds for each other during the day and report back to the class at the end of the day.

Look at children from cultures around the world and recognise similarities and differences. Focus on things we all have in common – a need to be loved, family, health and so on.

Make little paper hearts – a pattern at http://www.lifeisaparty.ca/2016/3d-origami-hearts/

Write a positive message inside each one (‘You are so kind’ or ‘I can always rely on you’) and then hand them out when appropriate.

Curriculum Areas covered:

Developing good relationships and respecting the differences between people

Pupils should be taught:

  • to recognise how their behaviour affects other people;
  • to listen to other people, and play and work cooperatively;
  • to identify and respect the differences and similarities between people;
  • that family and friends should care for each other;
  • that there are different types of teasing and bullying, that bullying is wrong, and how to get help to deal with bullying.

During the key stage, pupils should be taught the knowledge, skills and understanding through opportunities to feel positive about themselves (for example, by having their achievements recognised and by being given positive feedback about themselves)