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• Reading Rainbow - "Best Friends"
  Katy feels lonely and afraid when her best friend goes away for the summer and leaves her alone. She finds a dog that becomes a best friend and learns about the live and care pets need. LeVar explores how seeing-eye dogs are trained to act as eyes for the blind and meet a young girl who has spent a year raising a dog that will be trained to help a visually impaired person.
• Sagwa - "Explorer's Club"
  Sagwa forms her own club when Dongwa and the Alley Cat's refuse to let her in their club. When danger arises both clubs realize that they must work together for safety.

Do in Class

• Arthur: A Kindness Tree - Create a paper tree to show how friendships can blossom with kindness.
• Barney: Puppet Friends - Discuss what makes a good friend. Then have students create a paper bag friend to help them practice good social skills.
• Between the Lions: Friendship Collage - Make a friendship poster for your wall and discuss fond memories of times spent together.
• Clifford: Friend Trees - Learn to "branch out" and make new friends; it's a fun and rewarding way to grow important social skills.
• George Shrinks: Section 4: Socio-Emotional Development: A Friend Is a Present You Give Yourself - Talk about the importance of friendship and teamwork. Create a fruit salad together and graph the contents.
• George Shrinks: Section 4: Socio-Emotional Development: The Kindness Quilt - Discuss what being a friend means and what it means to be kind. Brainstorm a list of different ways of being kind and create a Kindness Quilt together.
• Jay Jay the Jet Plane: Friendship - List the qualities that make a good friend.
• Maya and Miguel: Experiencing Language with Friends - Share stories about friendship and learn bilingual greetings to use with old and new friends.
• Reading Rainbow: Best Friends Family Activity - Make a friendship scrapbook.

Play Online

• Africa for Kids: Swahili Folktale - Listen to or read a Swahili folktale about a young prince whose manners and friendships helped him on a quest. Learn about the importance of manners and friendship as you help Prince Sadaka pass "Three Tests: A Swahili Tale of Choices."

Read

• Big Al and Shrimpy
  By Andrew Clements and Yoshi
  Published September 2002 by Simon & Schuster
  Big Al and Shrimpy become pals when they are asked by the other fish to leave their game of tag. When Big Al is trapped by a rock in the dark deep, Shrimpy rallies the others to help him. This tale of friendship and a small fish with big ideas is beautifully illustrated by Yoshi using a combination of painting and batik on silk with embroidery.
• Hogula, Dread Pig of Night
  By Jean Gralley
  Published October 1999 by Henry Holt & Company, Inc.
  Gralley's first book for readers age 4-8 is a delightful tale of unlikely friendship. Hogula, the vampire pig, lives atop Grimy Pork Chop Hill and can send children to sleep with a snort from his snout; but he's lonely, until he meets Elvis Anne at the mall on Halloween.

*As most PBS children's programs offer one year extended taping rights for teachers, please feel free to tape them now and save them for use in your classroom during the school year.