Friendships, Empathy & Belonging
Objectives
- D02.S1.06.01 Navigate a change in friendship and resolve a conflict using respectful, honest communication.
- D02.S1.06.02 Distinguish assertive, passive, and aggressive communication and choose assertion.
- D02.S2.06.01 Distinguish empathy, feeling with someone, from sympathy, feeling for someone.
- D02.S2.06.02 Use perspective-taking to understand why a peer acted in a way that upset them.
- D02.S3.06.01 Analyze how belonging can include some people and exclude others, and why that happens.
- D02.S3.06.02 Describe how identity, such as culture, language, and ability, shapes belonging.
- D02.S4.06.01 Compare cooperation and competition and explain when each helps or harms a group.
- D02.S4.06.02 Explain why some people have more than they need while others lack, in age-appropriate terms.
Essential questions
- How do I navigate change in friendship and choose assertive, honest communication?
- How do empathy, belonging, and fairness build a community where everyone has a place?
Big ideas
- Friendship changes, and respectful, honest, assertive communication — not passivity or aggression — resolves conflict.
- Empathy is feeling with someone, not for them; belonging can include or exclude; and cooperation and fairness shape who has enough and who is left out.
Lessons
- 1 A Friendship Changes 45 minutes
- 2 Resolving a Conflict with Respectful, Honest Words 45 minutes
- 3 Passive, Aggressive, Assertive: Three Voices 45 minutes
- 4 Choosing Assertion in Real Situations 45 minutes
- 5 Empathy (With) vs Sympathy (For) 45 minutes
- 6 Why Did They Act That Way? Perspective-Taking 45 minutes
- 7 Belonging: Who's In, Who's Out, and Why 45 minutes
- 8 Identity Shapes Belonging: Culture, Language, Ability 45 minutes
- 9 Cooperation vs Competition: When Each Helps or Harms 45 minutes
- 10 Capstone: Why Some Have More Than They Need 45 minutes
Assessment plan
Observation of conflict navigation, assertion, perspective-taking, and group cooperation; a friendship-change reflection, an empathy-versus-sympathy note, an inclusion-and-belonging analysis, and a cooperation-versus-competition note as portfolio artifacts.
Unit 3 — Friendships, Empathy & Belonging
Overview
This unit turns outward into the practice of care, building on Grade 5’s kind feedback and fair task division. Learners navigate a change in friendship and resolve a conflict using respectful, honest communication, and distinguish assertive, passive, and aggressive communication, choosing assertion. They distinguish empathy, feeling with someone, from sympathy, feeling for someone, and use perspective-taking to understand why a peer acted in a way that upset them. They analyze how belonging can include some people and exclude others and why that happens, describe how identity — culture, language, and ability — shapes belonging, compare cooperation and competition and explain when each helps or harms a group, and explain, in age-appropriate terms, why some people have more than they need while others lack. Peers matter greatly now, so every lesson is held in a spirit of care rather than competition.
Essential questions
- How do I navigate change in friendship and choose assertive, honest communication?
- How do empathy, belonging, and fairness build a community where everyone has a place?
Lessons
| Lesson | Title | Standards |
|---|---|---|
| L.06.003.01 | A Friendship Changes | D02.S1.06.01 |
| L.06.003.02 | Resolving a Conflict with Respectful, Honest Words | D02.S1.06.01 |
| L.06.003.03 | Passive, Aggressive, Assertive: Three Voices | D02.S1.06.02 |
| L.06.003.04 | Choosing Assertion in Real Situations | D02.S1.06.02 |
| L.06.003.05 | Empathy (With) vs Sympathy (For) | D02.S2.06.01 |
| L.06.003.06 | Why Did They Act That Way? Perspective-Taking | D02.S2.06.02 |
| L.06.003.07 | Belonging: Who’s In, Who’s Out, and Why | D02.S3.06.01 |
| L.06.003.08 | Identity Shapes Belonging: Culture, Language, Ability | D02.S3.06.02 |
| L.06.003.09 | Cooperation vs Competition: When Each Helps or Harms | D02.S4.06.01 |
| L.06.003.10 | Capstone: Why Some Have More Than They Need | D02.S4.06.02 (revisits D02.S3.06.01, D02.S4.06.01) |