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Working Together: Friendship Skills

Third graders build relationship skills by learning what helps friendships grow — listening, sharing, taking turns, and saying sorry — and what hurts them, so they can be a good friend and teammate.

Grade 3CASEL: Relationship Skills30 minutes1 class periodCASEL SELExplicit teaching4 StandardsCASEL
Start the Lesson
Lesson at a Glance

Everything you need before the bell rings

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to…

  • ✓Explain relationship skills.
  • ✓Tell helpful from hurtful choices.
  • ✓Practice listening and sharing.
  • ✓Be a good friend.
Essential Question

Good friendships don’t just happen — they take real skills, like listening, sharing, and being kind. What helps a friendship grow strong, and what can hurt it?

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Lesson Phases
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Vocabulary Terms
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Standards Aligned
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Interactive Task
Sort It · Interactive

Helps or Hurts a Friendship?

Project this and sort each action into helping a friendship or hurting a friendship.

🤝 Sort each — helps or hurts a friendship?Try it
💛 Helps a Friendship
💔 Hurts a Friendship
Tap an action, then tap a bucket.
The Lesson · SEL Flow (Check-In · Learn · Practice · Apply · Reflect)

30 minutes, five moves

Tap any phase to open the teacher moves and student actions.

1

Check-In — Friendship Takes Skill

5 min

Good friendships take real skills — what makes a friendship strong?

👩‍🏫 Teacher Moves

  • Do a check-in.
  • Ask what good friends do.
  • Set a caring tone.

🎒 Student Actions

  • Check in.
  • Share ideas.
  • Get ready.
2

Learn — Friendship Skills

8 min

Students learn.

👩‍🏫 Teacher Moves

  • Explain listening and sharing.
  • Explain saying sorry.
  • Explain cheering others on.

🎒 Student Actions

  • Learn listening.
  • Learn sorry.
  • Learn cheering.
3

Practice — Helps or Hurts

8 min

Students practice.

👩‍🏫 Teacher Moves

  • Send children to Helps or Hurts?
  • Sort each one.
  • Talk about them.

🎒 Student Actions

  • Sort them.
  • Talk.
  • Explain them.
4

Apply — Being a Good Friend

6 min

Students apply.

👩‍🏫 Teacher Moves

  • Practice a friendship skill.
  • Explain how it helps.
  • Solve a small problem.

🎒 Student Actions

  • Practice it.
  • Explain it.
  • Solve it.
5

Reflect — Reflect

3 min

Students close.

👩‍🏫 Teacher Moves

  • Name a friendship skill.
  • Say why it helps.
  • Complete the exit ticket.

🎒 Student Actions

  • Name it.
  • Say why.
  • Complete the exit ticket.
Standards Alignment

Built to the standards you report on

Aligned to the CASEL 5 Social & Emotional Learning Competencies.

CASEL
Relationship Skills

Communicate and listen well with others.

CASEL
Relationship Skills

Cooperate, share, and take turns.

CASEL
Relationship Skills

Resolve conflicts and repair relationships.

CASEL
Social Awareness

Respect others in a group.

Differentiation

One lesson, every learner

Multilingual Learners

ELL / EMERGING READERS
  • Helps/hurts picture cards.
  • Sentence frame: “A good friend ___.”
  • Role-play friendship skills.

Support & Access

IEP / 504
  • Start with sharing vs. not sharing.
  • Sort one at a time.
  • Use pictures.

Stretch & Extend

GIFTED / EARLY FINISHERS
  • Role-play solving a conflict.
  • Practice active listening.
  • Explain teamwork.
Materials

What to gather

  • 📽️Screen / board
  • 🤝Friendship pictures
  • 💻Helps or Hurts a Friendship?
  • 🖍️Crayons
  • 📋A friendship chart
  • 🎫Exit-ticket slips
Vocabulary

Key terms — hover for a quick definition

relationship skillsskills for getting alongfriendshipa caring bond between friendslistento pay attention to someoneshareto give some to otherstake turnsto each have a turncooperateto work togetherapologizeto say you’re sorryteamworkworking well together
Evaluate

Exit Ticket

Preview the three formative checks. Tap “Sample answer” to see what mastery looks like — hide them before you print for students.

QUESTION 1
Name one thing that helps a friendship.
Listening, sharing, taking turns, saying sorry, or cheering a friend on.
QUESTION 2
What can you say when you’ve done something wrong to a friend?
“I’m sorry.”
QUESTION 3
Does always wanting your own way help or hurt a friendship?
It hurts a friendship.

Reflect: a friendship helper.

Have students pick one friendship skill — like listening or sharing — to practice with a classmate this week. A printable friendship-skills sheet is in the SEL library.

Study · Flashcards

Study the key terms

Tap a card to flip it, then rate whether you knew it. Built from this lesson’s vocabulary.

🃏 Relationship Skills: Working TogetherFlip
Card 1
Term
Tap to flip →
Meaning
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Nice work!

Practice · Quiz

Check your understanding

A quick self-check with instant feedback, drawn from this lesson’s key terms.

📝 Relationship Skills: Working TogetherQuiz
Score: 0
1 / 6
Question 1
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Nice work!

Practice · Worksheet

Printable worksheet

A print-and-go review sheet with a built-in answer key. Tap “Show answer key” to reveal answers, or print the clean version for students.

🖨️ Relationship Skills: Working TogetherPrint
Name: ________________________
Date: ____________

Part A · Write the word that matches each meaning

Word bank: apologize, cooperate, friendship, listen, relationship skills, share, take turns, teamwork
  1. to each have a turn
  2. to give some to others
  3. skills for getting along
  4. working well together
  5. to pay attention to someone
  6. to say you’re sorry
  7. to work together
  8. a caring bond between friends

Part B · Show what you learned

  1. Name one thing that helps a friendship.
  2. What can you say when you’ve done something wrong to a friend?
  3. Does always wanting your own way help or hurt a friendship?
Answer key — Part A: 1) take turns · 2) share · 3) relationship skills · 4) teamwork · 5) listen · 6) apologize · 7) cooperate · 8) friendship
Part B: 1) Listening, sharing, taking turns, saying sorry, or cheering a friend on. 2) “I’m sorry.” 3) It hurts a friendship.