Lesson 3: Conversations
Essential Question: How do I ask and answer questions in a conversation?
Lesson Overview
1. Brain Warmup
2. Read Aloud
3. Modeling Activity
4. Group Activity
6. Brain Cooldown
Purpose:
- By practicing daily conversations, students will feel more comfortable when engaging in conversations with others inside and outside of school Eye contact and personal space is a valuable skill to use when having a conversation with someone.
Vocabulary:
- eye contact
- personal space
- parts of a conversation
Brain Warmup: Ice Breaker Questions
Purpose: This warm up activity will engage students in answer questions about themselves while also familiarizing themselves with commonly asked questions that can be used in daily conversations.
Materials: online spinning wheel (see resources for link)
Time: 5 minutes
Procedure:
-
Students will sit on the carpet or open floor space
-
Each student will have the opportunity to “spin” the wheel
-
Teacher will read the question to the student who spun the wheel
-
The student will introduce himself or herself to the class and answer the question
-
All students will have an opportunity to spin the wheel and answer a question.
Note: The wheel is online; therefore, a SMART board or technology board of some sort would be ideal. However, if that is not accessible, students can click the wheel on the computer and it will still spin. If technology is not accessible, all questions can be printed out and placed in a cup for students to pull a question from.
Additional Books
Decibella and Her 6 Inch Voice
by Julia Cook
- This book the importance of voice levels and describes different volumes to use when speaking.
Click on book for video of read aloud
Additional Lesson
Activities
Making Friends Through Conversations
- Use the short video clip from the Disney movie Up to discuss how the characters engaged in a conversation which led to their friendship.
- See link to video in resources
Daily Question Jar
- Compile a list of 'get to know you' questions and place the questions on individual strips of paper in a jar.
- Use the jar during morning meetings or brain breaks to encourage discussion and build confidence levels of students.
Additional Resources
- This video clip emphasizes the importance of conversation skills to establish friendships.
- Conversation scene begins at minute 2:45.
- This article include helpful hints when teaching conversation skills and includes a variety of conversation starters.
Picture Books to Strengthen Social Skills:
- This article summaries 12 books that can be used to strengthen social skills. Included in this article are examples of books used to strengthen communication skills.
Beach Ball Bonding Icebreaker:
- This document instructs how to prepare and direct students to play the beach ball bonding icebreaker game. The document includes samples of icebreaker questions that can be written on a beach ball.
Read Aloud: My Mouth is a Volcano by Julia Cook
This read aloud emphasizes the importance of how to have a conversation with others and the voice level that should be used when talking with another student or person. The following discussion questions can guide a post read aloud conversation.
-
What does it mean to interrupt?
-
Is it kind to interrupt someone when they are talking?
-
When having a conversation with someone, what should you do if you have something you want to share?
Modeling Activity: How to Have a Conversation
This ‘Watch Me’ activity is for students to visually see how to introduce himself or herself and what to including when greeting someone. Model how to have a conversation after the read aloud discussion.
Purpose: By modeling how to have a conversation, students can see how to have a conversation.
Materials: puppets, stuffed animals, another teacher
Time: 5 to 10 minutes
Procedure:
-
Use two puppets or two stuffed animals to demonstrate how to have a conversation
-
Consider giving each puppet/animal a name and a background story
-
-
Model how to greet and introduce yourself
-
Have the puppets/animals greet one another and introduce themselves
-
Use greeting words like: hi, hello, good morning, my name is___
-
-
Model how to start a conversation
-
Have the puppets/animals start a conversation by using starting questions
-
Use starting questions like: how are you?, how is school?,
-
-
Model how to respond in a conversation
-
Have the puppets/animals respond to one another’s questions by using a short explanation
-
-
Model how to say farewell
-
Have the puppets/animals say farewell to another after their conversation
-
Use farewell words like: goodbye, bye, have a good day, see you soon
-
Note: Use the 'Conversation Map' Poster to help guide
conversation between puppets, stuffed animals,
or teachers.
Group Activity: Conversation Map
Purpose: students will create their own conversation map with options and suggestions on what to say when greeting, starting a conversation, responding, and saying farewell.
Materials: conversation map outline, conversation map words/phrases,
scissors, glue
Time: 10-15 minutes
Procedure:
-
As a group, brainstorm words that can be used during the parts of a conversation
-
Parts of a conversation: greeting, starting a conversation, responding, and farewell
-
Words, phrases, ideas can be recorded on a poster board or piece of paper for students to refer to when completing their conversation map
-
-
Pass out conversation maps to all students
-
The conversation map and conversation map words/phrases
-
-
Students will cut out words and phrases
-
Students will determine what part of a conversation the word or phrase belongs to
-
Example: the word is hello, the word would belong to the greetings category
-
-
Students will glue the words and phrases to their conversation map
-
Allow students time to practice using their conversation map by pairing students up for conversations or discussions
Brain Cooldown: Question Ball
Purpose: This game is to ask and answer common questions used during daily conversations.
Materials: a soft ball
Time: 5 minutes
Procedure:
-
Students will sit in a circle facing one another
-
Students will pass the ball to one another in a circle
-
When a student has the ball, the student will look for a question under a finger or thumb
-
The student with the ball will ask a question to the student sitting to their right
-
The student will answer the question
-
The pattern will continue until all students have asked and answered a question
Note: Question balls can be purchased, however questions can be written on tape and placed on a soft ball. More information about the 'Question Ball' can be found in additional resources.
