Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

10 minutes

Tune In: Watch the episode

15 minutes

Find Out: Think differently

30 minutes

Take action: Movement play

5 minutes

Reflection

Learning Intentions

Students will:

understand that people think differently and communicate in different ways
recognise that there are positive ways of resolving conflict.

Success Criteria

Students can:

perform a variety of fundamental movement skills and movement sequences
articulate positive methods of conflict resolution
describe ways to solve disagreements with friends.

Tune In: Watch the episode

Step 1

Share the Bluey episode Postman with your students.

Bluey 'POSTMAN' (clickv.ie/w/sYI0)

Postman synopsis: When Mum and Dad have a disagreement, Bluey makes Dad write a letter to Mum to make up. Now Bluey must find a way to play Postman and Ground’s Lava with Bingo without squabbling.

Find Out: Think differently

Step 1

Invite students to participate in a class discussion around the episode. You could consider the following questions:

I wonder what happened in the episode. I wonder what you noticed.
I wonder how Mum and Dad felt when they disagreed on the bin. Was it a big deal? Why do you think that?
I wonder how Bingo felt when Bluey didn't play with her at the start.
I wonder how Mum felt when she received Dad's letter. Why do you think that?

Through your discussion lead students to the part of the episode where Bluey thought Mum and Dad were bickering; were they fighting or having a difference of opinion (thinking about something differently)? Explain that it is okay for people to think differently, even if they're friends. Remind students that in the episode Bluey and Bingo wanted to go separate ways during the lava game; they disagreed, but they weren't fighting.

Step 2

If your school or classroom has a formal conflict resolution system, hold a discussion with students about what counts as a problem worth getting upset about, and what to do if students have disagreements with their friends.

Otherwise, remind students that it is okay to 'think different' to our friends and even our siblings. Sometimes this can even be useful because you might find different ways of doing things. In the episode we saw that neither Bluey nor Bingo were wrong in their approach to getting around the lava floor, they just had different ideas.

This does not mean that we can't be friends with people who think differently. It just means for that moment you disagree and you don't need to fight about it.

Displaying the Zones of Emotional Regulation chart is helpful for students to visualise their feelings and lead them to build their emotional vocabulary, shifting them away from rote responses like 'good' to more nuanced responses like 'curious', 'excited', or 'worried'.

Find out more about teaching emotional intelligence here.

Step 3

Work as a class to brainstorm ideas in response to the following prompt:

When might it be okay to think differently to our friends?

One example might be what to play at lunchtime. Another example might be whether we like a TV show or not. Remind students that it is okay to stand apart from the crowd; our own opinions and choices are what make us unique and interesting!

Work with students to come up with a phrase they can use to be content with their disagreements.

For example, 'That's okay, I think something different. Maybe we can meet up again later.'

Or, 'Let's make a deal. We'll do that now if we can do this later.'

Encourage students to use this phrase when they're split from their friends, and to be confident in having a different opinion.

Step 4

Introduce the term 'teamwork'. Explain to students that teamwork is when a group of people work together to complete a task. Teamwork can be challenging because sometimes the people working together have different opinions about how to do the task. Having different opinions can be a big challenge in teamwork, but if you want to complete the teamwork task you need to find a way to accept that other people have opinions and work out how to complete the task even with these differences. It can be hard but practice can make it easier!

Take Action: Movement play

Play is crucial to the development of gross and fine motor skills. Through play, students practise and perfect control and coordination of large body movements, as well as small movements of hands and fingers. Gross motor skills involve control of the arms, legs, head, and trunk. Fine motor skills involve the careful control of small muscles in the hands, feet, fingers, and toes. Controlling the muscles of the tongue and lips in order to speak or sing is also a fine motor skill.

Find out more here.

Step 1

Explain to students that they will now play a game that focuses on teamwork. Students will need to work in groups to complete a task and will need to practice their communication skills to resolves any differences of opinion about how to complete the task.

Instructions:

Move to an outside area. Start at one end of the basketball court.
Split students into groups of four. Equip each team with five hula hoops.
Explain to students the floor is lava, just like Bluey and Bingo were playing in the episode. Students have to move all members of the team to the other end of the court without touching the ground.
The rules for the game are:
- students can't step anywhere outside of the hula hoop, or else the lava will burn them up
- students can't move the hula hoop while they're stepping inside it.

Notes:

Depending on your students, you may allow them to develop their own system for the activity. Otherwise, provide instructions on how to set up a row of hula hoops, have everyone step through them, and then have the last person in line pick up the final hoop and pass it to the front. The hoop is then placed as the next step, allowing the group to move forward.
To increase the difficulty, limit each team to four or even three hula hoops, requiring multiple students to balance within a single hoop. Alternatively, blindfold some or all students—except for one designated leader—to challenge their communication skills as they work together to move the hoops forward.

Step 2

As they play, invite students to consider the following:

What is working well?
What is challenging?

Step 3

Once students are comfortable with their approach, hold a race from one end of the court to the other.

Reflection

Engage students in a class discussion around the following questions:

How well do you think your team worked together during this game?
What was tough?
What went well?
What do you think it means to work well as a team?

Successful teamwork depends on individuals communicating effectively, collaboratively making decisions and resolving conflict, showing respect for and understanding of others’ perspectives, and defining and accepting specific roles and responsibilities.

Teamwork - The Great Lava Escape Game

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