How to Lose All Your Friends

How to Lose All Your Friends by Nancy Carlson is one of my staple lessons in first grade.  This is a time when students are beginning to learn behaviors that can help them or hurt them in developing friendships. When starting this lesson, I always ask students, "Why do you think I would read you a story about how to lose your friends?"  They quickly come to the conclusion that I want for them to learn what NOT to do when making friends.  This story goes through some of the "big" mistakes that children sometimes make in making friends, such as being grumpy, tattling, not sharing, being a bully, etc.  The story is cute and the kids love to say "No!" or "that's wrong!"  as we go through the story.  After the story, I tell the students that they will have the chance to write their own book.  This book will be called How to Make Friends.  We brainstorm some ways that we can make friends (smiling, sharing, helping) and then I show them how to fold their paper into their book.  I tell them that just like my book had words and pictures, I want for their book to have the same.  The students love making these little books, and are so excited when they get to take them home.  The bonus is that they will have a take-home reminder of our lesson and how to effectively make and keep friends.