S2 - PDHPE – Interpersonal Relationships
Building My Network
Outcomes and Indicators
Knowledge and UnderstandingIRS2.11 Describes how relationships with a range of people enhance wellbeing. / Skills
COS2.1 Uses a variety of ways to communicate with and within groups.
DMS2.2 Makes decisions as an individual and as a group member. / Values and Attitudes
V1 Refers to a sense of own worth and belonging.
V2 Respects the right of others to hold different values and attitudes from their own.
Student Assessment
Teacher observation of student behaviour:– in the playground
– during group work
– during classroom activities.
• Teacher observation of student responses during class discussion.
• Anecdotal records or reports on student behaviour.
• Student profile card for keeping a record of comments or anecdotal remarks regarding students’ behaviours.
• Observing class for overall behaviour change. /
Program Evaluation
• Did the students enjoy the activities?• Were all students given the opportunity to share their feelings?
• How well did the students work in pairs? In groups?
• Was the selection of student literature appropriate?
• Were the students able to share their class work with their families?
• Is there an improved atmosphere of trust and support in the classroom?
• Was sufficient time given for students to discuss the results of particular activities?
Learning ExperiencesRelationships
_ Ask students to list: good things to say to your parents; something positive to say to someone you
don’t like; ways to help a friend; things that can harm a friendship; things that build friendships.
Discuss with a partner and/or in small groups how people might feel or respond to each of these
situations.
_ Ask students to remember the last time they had an argument with a friend. Discuss:
– Did you feel angry?
– How do you know when you’re feeling angry? Can you recognise the signs?
– What was the argument about?
– Was there a need to solve the problem?
– How was the argument resolved?
– How could the argument have been resolved?
_ Have students brainstorm a list of things that people do when they are angry. Consider each item
on the list and discuss whether it is an appropriate or inappropriate way of coping with anger.
Students decide on a strategy to try and use next time they feel anger. Share with the class.
_ Discuss the differences between ‘liking’ and ‘loving’. Have students brainstorm a list of the things
they like and love, eg Mum, Dad, food, TV, pets. Identify things they like all the time and things
they like some of the time; discuss if they still love people even if things have gone wrong.
_ On a blank coat of arms, each student writes down in each of the segments one feeling that they
have experienced. Students think of four or five situations in which each of these feelings may be
evoked. Share their coat of arms and discuss individual needs, similarities and differences.
_ Have students create a network chart with themselves at the centre. The network chart could
include people at school, home, pets and special adults. Students identify those people who are
new to their network. Discuss:
– why these people are in their network; and
– how these people make them feel.
_ Have students draw lines across their network chart to show any links between the people within
the network, eg
– Which people have met?
– Is one person known by all of the other people? /
Date
Learning Experiences_ Provide opportunities for students to discuss how they feel when people leave their network, eg
changing schools, family break-up, death. Discuss saying ‘goodbye’ to people. Students write a
‘goodbye’ note to a friend who has moved or changed school.
_ Have students select people on their network who they could talk to about such things as:
– feeling left out;
– feeling lonely when no one will play with you;
– feeling worried because your parents had an argument.
_ Discuss bullying. Create a shared definition. Discuss the effects of bullying and make a class list of
useful anti-bullying strategies.
_ Read a book about trust such as Just a Brown Dog by Sally Morgan. Discuss the trust that
developed at the end of the story. Using a ‘Y’ frame, brainstorm students’ responses to ‘Trust
looks like …, Ttrust feels like …, Trust sounds like …’.
Communication
_ Ask students to describe a situation where two people are fighting. They look as though they are
hurting each other, but when stopped by adults, they say ‘We were only playing’. Discuss: What
made the adults think it was a quarrel? What makes you think people are fighting? How does it
feel to be in a fight? What do you want to do? How do you feel afterwards? Ask students to draw
or write about how they would feel and what they would do.
_ Encourage students to make a feelings wheel showing emotions such as angry, sad, excited,
scared. Students spin the wheel and discuss a situation when they experienced that feeling. Use
the feeling wheel to describe how they feel at a particular point in time. Students walk around the
room and observe how others feel. Discuss:
– the variety of feelings people experienced;
– why they had these feelings; and
– why we should respect the feelings of others.
_ Have each student design their own fun language or their own nonverbal sign. Use this new
language to give a short message to a friend. Discuss: Do we all need to speak the same language
to communicate?
_ In pairs, have students sit back to back and each draw a picture. Still sitting this way, each person
has a turn to describe their drawing while their partner tries to draw it. Compare originals with
those drawn by their partner. Discuss reasons for the differences. As a class, list hints for being a
good listener and a good communicator.
_ Have students write, draw or paint an incident in which they had wanted to say ‘No’ to someone
and didn’t, eg a casual friend asks for money. In groups, describe the situation, express feelings
about it, specify options and consequences for the actions and select an action. Role-play being
assertive.
_ Working in threes, have students nominate the roles of speaker, listener and checker. Provide each
group with stimulus cards with either a word or picture printed on them. The speaker reads the
topic and makes one statement about the topic. The listener repeats the statement using the same
or different words. The checker feeds back whether the listener repeated a similar message.
Rotate roles. Discuss the importance of being a good listener.
_ Have students make a collage with pictures of people communicating in different ways and in
different situations. Suggest dialogue for the situations portrayed. (This may be made into a
cartoon strip.) Display sheets and list reasons why people communicate.
_ Brainstorm a list of rights that children are entitled to, eg to be safe, to have their bodies
respected, to have their thoughts and feelings respected and to be treated fairly. In small groups,
students develop a scenario where a child has not had their rights met. Each group writes a letter
to state their feelings on the matter and to assert their rights.
Families
_ Ask each student to draw and write about what they think a family is.
– What is a family?
– Are all families the same?
– What are the different types of families?
_ Discuss roles within families. Have students draw their families. Next to each member, write their
roles, rights and responsibilities. Discuss how students feel when:
– a family member leaves;
– a family member is ill or has an accident;
– a family member has extra work to do;
– a family member shares things; and
– a family member spends time with them. /
Date
Learning Experiences_ Have students make a concertina book titled ‘Being part of my family means …’. Content could
include:
– showing people I care about them by …
– helping with the dishes so that …
– looking after my sister or brother when …
_ Create a class graph showing the number of members of each student’s family. Discuss the
information shown on the graph. Discuss which families have babies in them? How does a new
baby change your family? What are the positive things about having a new baby in the family? Do
you have any new or different responsibilities as a result of a new family member?
_ Invite a guest speaker to talk about their role as a parent of a newborn baby. Students devise
questions they want to ask prior to the guest’s arrival. For example:
– What do babies eat when they are first born?
– When do they start to talk?
– Why do people breastfeed?
– What is it like being pregnant?
– What does being a parent involve?
Teacher Note: Consider school policy regarding controversial issues.
_ Have students design a pamphlet about how to look after a baby, or a young animal. In small
groups, share and read the pamphlets that the students have devised. What are the differences
between human and animal young and parents? Make up a list showing similarities and
differences.
Teacher Note: Further research can be encouraged. It would be helpful, if possible, for students
who have had experiences either with newborn babies or pets to be distributed between each of
the groups.
Peers
_ Encourage students to make a collage of their network of friends. Begin by putting their selfportrait
in the middle and grouping photos, drawings or the names of their friends around it, eg
school friends, new friends, old friends, adult friends. Share with others. Discuss: How does it feel
to have a good friend?
_ Have students write or draw all the things they like about their best friends without mentioning
names. Share responses in small groups. Students try to group their responses in terms of
appearance, things we do together, personality, etc. Discuss the importance of sharing and trust.
_ Repeat the activity, this time exploring what they think their friends like about them. Analyse
responses as before and share their feelings.
Teacher Note: Emphasise that it is what people are, rather than what they have or own, that is
important.
_ Provide opportunities for students to examine a range of books, stories, poems and pictures about
friends and friendships to explore the qualities of a good friend. List the three most important
things they look for when choosing friends. Students design an advertisement for the ‘wanted’
column of a friendship magazine. Display the ads and discuss which of them students would like
to respond to.
_ Have each student write a recipe for a friend. Brainstorm the ingredients needed to make a
friend. As a group, write a method of making friends using the ingredients already discussed.
Develop a set of guidelines for ‘preserving’ or keeping friends.
_ Ask students to make an individual friendship timeline, eg Jenny and Ben were my friends in
preschool. Thomas and Denya were my friends in kindergarten. Students discuss why some
friendships change, some friendships end and why others remain throughout our lives.
_ Show the class a picture of someone standing apart from a group. Discuss:
– How would that person be feeling?
– How would you feel if you were that person?
– What could you do to avoid being left out or alone?
_ Discuss why some people might not have friends, what it means to have a friend and how you
can be a good friend.
_ In small groups, discuss the things friends do for each other. What do they say to each other
when things are going well and when things are going badly? Consider friendship as a chain
linking two people. What kinds of things link people together, eg liking similar things? Write about
their friendship links. Groups look at the types of activities that could cause a friendship chain to
break, eg lying, stealing. Discuss whether they consider all friendships are valuable. /
Date
Groups_ Have students list different people that they know in different groups, eg family, clubs, school,
local neighbourhood. Select one group they belong to and make a diagram of themselves and the
group. View each other’s diagrams.
_ Discuss:
– Why do we have groups?
– What are the groups that we belong to?
– How do you become part of a group?
– What are our responsibilities as a group member?
– As an individual, what are my rights?
– How do you want to be treated by family, friends and others that you have contact with?
– Are some groups of people or individuals badly treated?
– Is it fair to treat others badly because they are different?
– Do you treat people differently to how you want to be treated?
_ Jointly construct a list of the attributes that students think are needed to develop and maintain an
effective group. Students make a chart with headings such as ‘A good leader is …’ and ‘A good
group member is …’
_ Have students build a tower of cards individually, then repeat the activity in small groups.
Compare the outcomes of the two sessions. Discuss the benefits of each situation.
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