Special Awareness Days
June 8th - National Best Friends Day
Introduction
“When it hurts to look back and you’re scared to look ahead, you can look beside you and your best friend will be there.” (author unknown)
Although this is an unofficial special day, it is celebrated on June 8th each year. It is a day when we let our “besties” know that we care about them and that we appreciate their friendship.
Best Friends Day is also a day to assess the true value of friendship. What is a friend? What qualities do we look for? Are we good friends to others?
During challenging times, our friends become even more important. We may need to think of creative ways to keep in touch, other than in-person communication.
Activity Bursts
Grades K-2
Language, Art, Critical Thinking
Select a book that talks about friends and read it aloud to the class.
For some great ideas, check:
Levelled Readers about Friendship from Pearson
Popular Children Friendship Books
After reading, ask the following:
- Who were the friends in this book?
- What do you think made them good friends?
As a class, brainstorm words that describe good friends and print them on a piece of chart paper.
Explain that it is the students’ turn to create a class book about friendship. Invite students to take a piece of paper and print the following words and finish the following sentence:
A good friend is _____________________.
The rest of the page is for drawing what they feel is an example of being a good friend.
Remind them that sometimes their mom, dad, brother, sister, or a pet can be a good friend too!
Invite students to share the pages. You may want to collate the pages with a ring or ribbon and place in the school library for others to read.
Consider sending some of their answers home in your next school newsletter!
Grades 3-5
Language, Art, Critical Thinking
Ask:
- Why do you think friends are important?
- What qualities do you look for in a friend?
- What makes a “best friend” different from all the others?
Share the following quote from Woodrow Wilson and ask students to explain what they think it means.
"Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together." --Woodrow Wilson
Invite students to draw a large tree with several bare branches on a blank piece of paper. Ask them to brainstorm the qualities they believe hold a friendship together and then add these qualities as leaves on their friendship tree.
In closing, ask:
- What did you learn about friendship today?
- If you were asked to list the three things that you care most about in terms of your friendships, what would they be? Think-pair-share.
Suggest that students post their friendship trees somewhere in their homes as an important reminder of the importance of good friends.
Grades 6-8
Music, Language, Critical Thinking, Media Literacy
Watch this video that highlights the song, ‘Count On Me’, sung and co-written by Bruno Mars, Philip Lawrence, and Ari Levine.
Ask:
- Why do you think Bruno Mars chose to record this song?
- What is the primary theme of this song?
- Why do you think the person who created this video selected these photos to accompany the song? Which ones do you find the most effective?
Ask students to create a word map on a piece of paper that describes their thoughts about “true friends.” Share and discuss.
Share this link and invite students to discuss whether or not they agree with these quotes about true friendship:
- “A true friend is someone who is there for you when he’d rather be anywhere else.”- Len Wein
- “If you have one true friend, you have more than your share.”-Thomas Fuller
- “ A true friend is one who overlooks your failures and tolerates your success.” Doug Larson
- “We never lose friends. We simply learn who the real ones are!” - Unknown
Invite students to come up with their own “true friend” quotes. Share several with the class.
Close by asking:
- What did you enjoy most about this activity? Why?
- Did it make you think in any new or different ways about the importance of being a good friend to someone else? Discuss.
