As a part of our regular lessons on Social Skills through the Second Step Program, the boys in Year 5 have been exploring importance of accepting difference.

As they get older, primary school students become increasingly focused on peers and peer norms.  Prejudices of all sorts are common sources of conflict among students.  It is important to help students understand the negative effects of prejudice and to learn to focus on things they have in common with peers rather than differences between themselves and others.  This can reduce discrimination, bullying and peer conflicts.  Being able to find commonality with peers is an important path to increasing compassionate behaviour.

The boys in Year 5 used their creativity, technological skills and understanding of what makes the Media effective to produce a stop motion video to promote the acceptance of difference. This continued integration of social skills into our class units of inquiry has allowed the boys to develop a common language and understanding as they explore the many differences that exist within our classroom and the wider school community.

You can view a couple of examples here http://bit.ly/nclacceptdifference.

Pascal Czerwenka and Carol Peterson – Year 5 Teachers