Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

10 minutes

Tune In: Watch the episode

15 minutes

Find Out: Discussion

30 minutes

Take Action: Family cards

5 minutes

Reflection

Learning intentions

Students will:

reflect on their personal qualities and strengths
reflect on the personal qualities and strengths of people they know.

Success criteria

Students can:

list personal qualities and traits they are proud of
describe the personal qualities and traits of family members
create name cards that include information about the personal qualities of those listed on the card.

Tune In: Watch the episode

Step 1

Share the Bluey episode Christmas Swim with your students.

Bluey 'Christmas Swim' - ClickView (clickv.ie/w/a2gx)

Christmas Swim synopsis: Bluey gets a new teddy for Christmas and introduces him to the whole family. But the family play too rough with him and now he wants to go home. Until Frisky convinces him to stay.

Find Out: Discussion

Step 1

Engage students in a discussion about the episode they just watched. Invite students to share their own observations about what they noticed, liked or didn't like about the episode, and explain that there are no right or wrong observations or answers; it is up to their own interpretation.

Consider using the following prompts to guide students in your discussion:

How would you describe what happened in this episode?
I wonder how the Heeler family tried to make Bartleby feel welcome.
I wonder what else the Heeler family could have done to try and make Bartleby feel included.
I wonder how Bluey thought Bartleby was feeling about being part of the Heeler family. How do you know? You might display the Zones of Emotional Regulation chart to help students with the vocabulary around feelings.
I wonder how Frisky made Bartleby feel better.

The Zones of Emotional Regulation Chart is a simple tool to help us recognise and identify emotions, within ourselves and in the people around us. Emotions are grouped into different coloured zones - green, yellow, blue and red - based on the way the different emotions make our bodies feel.

Find out more about teaching emotional intelligence here.

You could also display this prompt wall to inspire some observations.

Step 2

Pose the following questions to students:

How would you describe Bluey's personability in this episode? What words would you use to describe her?

As students make suggestions, keep a list of new vocabulary words on the whiteboard. For example:

caring
concerned
protective.

Step 3

Now invite students to consider the following:

I wonder how you would describe yourself. What words would you use to describe your personality?
I wonder what your strengths are.
What are some achievements you are proud of?
I wonder how what you would like to be known for.

You could lead students in this discussion by sharing some of your own answers to these prompts, for example:

I am kind and brave and always rescue spiders from the bathtub. I am proud to have completed a half marathon and I would like to be known as a good friend to both people and animals.

Using I wonder... questions

“I wonder…” questions help to take the wrong and right out of the answer, and allow students to explore and test their own ideas without fear of being wrong). You could continue questioning after the child has answered, asking, “Why do you say that?” This further reveals a child’s thinking.

For more evidence-based advice on developing oral language in students click here.

Step 4

Now ask:

I wonder if you would use the same words to describe Bluey's dad as you used to describe Bluey. What different words would you use to describe Bandit's personality?

List these words on the board.

Consider working through other characters in this episode and find words to describe their personalities. Record these on the board. The aim here is to come up with a range of words that students can draw upon in the next task.

Take Action: Family cards

Step 1

Explain to students that at the end of the episode the family sat down for Christmas lunch. Sometimes when people sit down for a celebration meal there might be name cards placed at each setting so that people know where to sit (like you might find on your school desk in the classroom). This can mean you might not get to choose who to sit next to, but it also might mean you get to sit next to someone you don't normally get to sit next to and you might have new and interesting conversations.

But if you're new to the family - like Bartleby - the only clue you have about the people you're sitting next to are their names! And this doesn't tell you anything about these new people.

In this activity, students will create name cards for members of their own families, and as well as adding a name to each card they will also add something about the personality of that person so that people who might be new to the family can feel more included.

Step 2

Invite students to create name cards for members of their families. Encourage students to think of positive personality traits (you don't want people to be scared about who they are sitting next to!).

Depending on the age and ability of students you could:

invite students to use keywords to describe personality characteristics (e.g. funny, kind, quiet)
invite students to use full sentences (e.g. Aunty Jen is brave)
invite students to write a longer, more descriptive sentence about each family member (e.g. Nonna is kind and will always let you have a second piece of cake).

Students can also decorate their cards.

Step 3

Students could share one of their favourite cards with a classmate or with the class. Cards can be taken home and shared with families.

Reflection

Invite students to imagine they are in the episode they watched earlier, joining the family in their lunch.

I wonder who they would most like to sit next to.
I wonder what their name card would say about their personality. Pick only one word to describe yourself!

Students can share their ideas with their table groups through brief class discussions.

Inclusivity - Celebrating Family Strengths

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Summary

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