Friendship Group for New Students - Growing Friends Counseling Group

Growing Friends is a five-week friendship group for new students. This group is designed to help new students feel welcome and make new friends. Students are often nervous when they first start a new school so including them in a small group is a fantastic idea. Not only will they make new friends as part of the small group but they will learn how to view their transition to the new school through the lens of a grown mindset.

The icebreaker activities are designed to be a fun and easy way for the group members to get to know one another and make friends. The activities dig deeper and have them self reflect.

The curriculum meets ASCA mindsets and behaviors standards and is designed to be low-prep.

Group Outline

Week 1: Introductions

Week 2: Growing Pains

Week 3: Support Systems

Week 4: Prickly Situations

Week 5: Goal Setting

WHAT’S INCLUDED Each Week:

↠ Group Rules: Suggested and DIY Group Rules poster so students can take ownership of the creation of the group rules and norms

↠ Feelings Check: Feelings Check Poster to serve as a visual aid for students to self-reflect on their emotional state at the start of each session

↠ Self Reflection Journal: With writing prompts

↠ Games & Activities: A wide variety of games and activities each week

↠ Ice Breakers: Different activities designed to get conversation started

↠ Self-Assessments: Pre and post group self-assessments to track student growth and make data collection easy!

Ice Breakers Include:

• Get to Know You BINGO
• Sides of the Room
• Charades
• Beach Ball Toss
• Two Facts and a Fib

Activities Include:

• Interactive Friendship Worksheet
• Friendship Discussion Cards
• Flip Book
• Card Game
• Poster Craft

BENEFITING STUDENTS

Each week students will learn skills they can use at home and school to help them better navigate social situations. The goal of this group is to help new students feel more comfortable and optimistic about their new school and their ability to make new friends.

At a minimum, being in this counseling group allows students to meet potential new friends, identify and share their feelings, develop self-esteem through participation, and practice empathy while hearing others’ experiences.

SAVING TIME

With easy to implement outlines and activities, this friendship curriculum is very low-prep. Simply print out each session before students arrive and keep them in a file folder. For tips on how to organize your small groups, check out this blog post I wrote. The self-assessments are a great way to get students to self-reflect on their progress and you can then share this information with teachers, parents, or in your program report.

Who is this Group Designed For?

“Growing Friends” is designed for small groups of students grades 4-7. It can also be modified to work for other grades and individual lessons.