Honesty Buddy Session 1: Introduction

hONESTY Francine’s Tough Day

Materials

Arthur Character Cards:

Francine, Binky, Mr. Ratburn, Muffy Vocabulary List (optional)

Objective: Students explore the interactive comic with buddies to help them gain an understanding of what it means to be honest and how telling the truth can be hard to do. Book Corner

Aesop The Boy Who Cried Wolf Anderson, Hans Christian The Emperor’s New Clothes Breathed, Berkeley Edwurd Fudwupper Fibbed Big Cocca-Leffler, Maryann Princess K.I.M. and the Lie That Grew

Demi The Empty Pot Farrell, Darren Doug-Dennis and the Flyaway Fib McKissack, Patricia C. The Honest-to-Goodness Truth Rankin, Laura Ruthie and the (Not So) Tiny Lie

30–45

minutes

h ONESTY LITTLE B UDDY S ESSION 1: Introduction

Preview the story

Introduce the concept and main idea of the story. You might want to say: During our next session with our Big Buddies, you are going to listen to a story called Francine’s Tough Day. The main characters in the story are: Francine, Mr. Ratburn, Binky, and Muffy. Place the character cards on display for students to view. In Francine’s Tough Day, Francine has a hard time being honest and telling the truth. She forgets to do her homework and lies about it to Mr. Ratburn. Then she exaggerates her role in a soccer game. Finally, she can’t decide whether or not to tell the truth about a sleepover that her friend was not invited to. As you listen to the story together, you’ll talk with your Big Buddy about telling the truth, why people tell lies, how it feels to lie or be honest, and whether it’s ever okay to tell a lie.

Introduce and discuss: honesty

Francine’s Tough Day helps students consider different scenarios in which Francine struggles with being honest. Students explore Francine’s choices and the impact of her choices. Before the session with the Big Buddies, discuss what honesty means and how it feels to be honest or dishonest. You might want begin by telling students about a real-life experience you had when you struggled with being honest. Encourage students to do the same. This can help them to feel comfortable when talking about these issues with their Big Buddies. Then ask: What do you think it means to be honest? <pause for responses> Right! When people are honest, it means they tell the truth. When people are being honest, they don’t lie, cheat, or steal, even if they wouldn’t get caught, or even when lying, cheating, or stealing will get them what they want. Honest people admit what they did something wrong, even if it means getting into trouble or having someone be mad at them.

Little Buddies may have very definite ideas about honesty always being the right choice. Help them expand their thinking by asking: •Can you think of a time when someone might tell a lie? Why do you think they might lie?

•Is it always easy to be honest and tell the truth? Can you think of an example of when it might be hard to tell the truth?

•How does it feel to lie? How does it feel to tell the truth? Does it ever feel bad to tell the truth?

• Is it ever okay to lie? What would you do if telling the truth would hurt a friend?

Talk about how sometimes it can be difficult to tell the truth. Give examples such as: •Sometimes its okay to avoid telling the whole truth if it hurts someone's feelings, for example, what if a friend brought you a banana muffin and you don’t like banana, but you love muffins. You don't need to mention the banana, just let her know you love muffins!

• Sometimes its okay to say nothing if the truth might hurt someone's feelings, for example, if a friend gets a new pair of glasses that you don’t like—it might be better not to mention her glasses at all.