Children need to be able to make decisions to stand up to peer pressure, to keep themselves safe and to think carefully before smoking, drinking or taking drugs.
Some decisions or choices are easier to make than others. These are generally ones where there is a correct answer: for example, given a thermometer, a ruler and a clock, ask "which could you use to find out how hot a cup of tea is?"
In contrast, the decisions we need to make when faced with a social or moral dilemma are more complex and are often based on opinion. Usually facts should be considered in order to help make an informed decision.
The intention of this project is to enlighten young children about the difference between "easy" choices/decisions and "hard" ones, and to alert them to the fact that their opinion is important in the latter. It will also provide them with skills which they can use to help make the more difficult choices/de cisions. The lessons will be explicit in teaching how best to go about the decision-making process, such as by drawing up a list of pros & cons.
Learning objectives
Through these lessons, children will be provided with appropriate opportunities to learn to:
* recognise what they like and dislike, what is fair and unfair, and what is right and wrong
* recognise choices they can make
* know how to make simple choices that improve their well-being
* recognise how their behaviour affects other people.
Children will be encouraged to:
* take part in discussions
* make real choices
* consider social and moral dilemmas in everyday life
* ask for help.
Activity 1: Who fits the bill?
A "circle time" activity in which children are asked to assign character attributes to other children.
Organisation Children sit in a circle. The rules of your own circle time are likely to apply - for example, looking at the person who is speaking and listening to them only (a "speaking object" such as a shell helps the children to remember); not commenting on what others say or do, etc. Make and use the positive attribute cards printed opposite.
Shuffle the cards and lay them face down in the middle of the circle. Each child takes it in turns around the circle to pick up the top card, read it aloud and then consider for whom in the circle the statement is most true. When they have decided, they must give that child the card and try to explain why. Suggesting that they give an example can help the child who finds it difficult to support their opinion with an explanation.
Each child should only have one card. If the selecting child does not think that there is a child currently without a card for whom the card is suitable, they may give it instead to "our good friend" (a fictitious character, perhaps a teddy bear) and take the next card. The cards given to '"our good friend" should be put to the bottom for use later on.
SEN adaptations
To make the activity easier: place the cards face up in the middle of the circle and read them aloud to everyone at the start. To make the activity more complex: girls have to choose to give the card to a boy, and boys to a girl. Children who will find this activity easier than others should take their turn nearer the end.
Extension opportunities
Children could make up their own positive attribute cards to use with the class.
Activity 2: Jigsaw decisions
Explicit teaching of the thought processes involved in doing a jigsaw.
Organisation At their desks, provide each child with a pair of scissors and a page from a magazine (ideally with a brightly coloured picture on it). Ask them to cut their page into four pieces, trying to make the shape of each one different (so as not to end up with four rectangles from each child). Collect in all the pieces and ask the children to sit in a circle again.
Shuffle the pieces of picture (making sure that they are facing the same way up) and hand out four to each child. Ask them one at a time to select one piece to return to the middle of the circle; then, when each has done this, ask each one to choose a new piece from the centre to try to complete their jigsaw. As they do this, question them about their choice: why did you pick that one? Was it the shape of the piece? Was it the colours? Was it the picture that helped you make your choice?
Hint Prepare the "jigsaw" pieces in advance, sticking each sheet to a piece of plain paper before cutting it up, thus eliminating the possibility of two pictures on the front and back of each piece.
SEN adaptations
To make the activity easier: children work in pairs. To make the activity more complex: limit the criteria against which the children can make their judgments - for example, cut all the pages into the same shapes, or use a photocopy of the same picture (but cut in different ways).
Extension opportunities
Provide a range of jigsaws for the children to use independently, in pairs or in groups. Train the children to ask each other about their choice of piece each time. Encourage the children to be explicit.
