Author: Kristin Bye-Barton

Getting Along in Room 5

What’s Going On?

Mrs. Green’s Class Newsletter

May 2005

The last few weeks the students in Room 5 have learned about conflict resolution through creating cause-and-effect maps, collecting data, graphing, and problem-solving together.
As a whole class students created a Seeing Reason map to figure out the common problems on the playground that affect students getting along.
Students paired up and chose 4 problems they wanted to investigate further. The students polled other class members to find out the biggest problem on the playground. Students used tally marks to collect data and used graphs to show what they found. Here is one example graph created by Kyle and Max:

Callie works on creating her graph.

Our Map

Making
Friends

Not sharing

Getting Along

Sharing balls and ropes

= decreases

= increases

Max says: “Not using kinds words had 2 less votes than not sharing.”

Avery says: “Not following rules and not using kind words were tied!”

Kyle says: “Not taking turns is the biggest problem on our graph.”

What we learned about graphing:
It helps us organize our information. -Brianna
Graphs help us see our information. -Corey
It’s fun to fill in the graph with colors and count them all up. -Dan
I like adding all the squares up and finding which have more and which have less. -Amanda
You have to take your tally marks and count them up and then put them on your graph.–Dylan

The Sneetches and
Students in Room 5
We both argue and don’t get along sometimes.
We don’t use kind words when we are playing together.
We don’t share sometimes.
We learn to be friends and get along.
We let others play in our games.

Fighting

Room 5 Finds Solutions

Once students found the biggest problem by looking at their graphs, their next task was to find a solution. Student pairs then created If/Then/So posters to share with the class their problem-solving strategies. Here are some solutions students came up with:
If you see someone who looks lonely Then ask them to join in a game So they will have fun and you will make a new friend. –Stef & Zoe
If someone doesn't follow a game rule Then look at the game’s rules So you can agree on rules and keep playing. -Tyi & Kellan
If someone doesn't follow a game rule Then decide to play another game So you can avoid a problem. -Heidi & Gayle
Students shared their posters with the class.
You are invited to see the posters displayed throughout the school.

Heather and Daria find
solutions

Steps to Conflict Resolution— How can we all get along?

Students found some great solutions to the problems we are having on the playground, but we all know that these problems may come up again. To help us solve these problems peacefully we learned 6 steps to resolve conflicts we may have with others. We role-played different problems we may encounter on the playground.
You could try role-playing at home following these 6 steps:
Step 1: Cool off.
Step 2: Tell what’s bothering you using “I messages”.
Step 3: Each person restates what they heard the other person say.
Step 4: Take responsibility.
Step 5: Brainstorm solutions and come up with one that satisfies both people.
Step 6: Affirm, forgive, or thank.
When we follow these steps we can all get along.

“I walk away from a problem so I can cool off. Then I talk with my friend and tell them what’s bothering me. After that we are friends again.” -Jeffrey

What Pulls Us Apart and Brings Us Together?

We set out to explore this Essential Question to dig deeper into how we can solve problems and all get along.
“I think not sharing pulls us apart but sharing makes friends.” -Chen
“Not following rules pulls us apart and makes us fight. When we agree on the rules and play fair then we are a team.” -Karen
“The Sneetches don’t get along because of the way they look. When they see it’s okay to look the way they want then they are friends.”
- Joshua

Karen and Heidi get along

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Getting Along in Room 5

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Mrs. Green’s Class Newsletter

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