Activities for primary schools/ Julie Steer 

 Friend shape poem

Discuss some of these ideas with the children.

• Why are friends important?
• What is special about your friends?
• Think about the qualities that a good friend has.
• Discuss the words personality and character and make sure all the children understand what these mean.
• Brainstorm a list of the qualities that a good friend has.
• Read the poem by Bat-Chen. Choose a flower shape and help the children write a shape poem about their best friend using each petal to describe one special characteristic.  Draw a picture of the person in the centre.

For Chen

 – see whole poem on page 64 of the Bat-Chen Diaries

When a flower blooms, it is a lovely sight.

We love looking at it.

Everyone wants to be a flower-

Beautiful, impressive and admired.

You’re like a flower,

You set an example to others.

Why don’t you reveal your secret?

You have six petals, each with a special quality?

You’re considerate

You help others

You’re concerned and caring

You’re smart

You’re charming

You’re beautiful

Our friendship is like a flower in water.

When the flower droops and suffers, the water revives us and straightens us up again.

Oof another operation For full diary entry see page 22 Bat Chen diaries

Dealing with Worries

I’ve had ear problems since I was a year old. I’ve had four operations. Next Monday I’m going to have a fifth.

I don’t want that day to come.

All sorts of ideas float into my head.

What if I never wake up?

Perhaps I’ll be brain damaged!

Or even deaf!

It’s very hard to explain. You have to undergo an operation to know what fear is.  The nurse said to me, ‘It’s natural, everyone’s scared.  And if someone says he isn’t, it’s a sign he’s lying.’

It’s just the uncertainty about what’s going to happen that’s so frightening- also the anesthetics.  I don’t want to have the operation, but there’s no alternative, I’ve got to have it.

Dear diary, you will be with me during the operation, won’t you?

Read the diary entry with the children.  Discuss some of these ideas.

Have anyone ever been ill or needed medicine or treatment that worried them?

Why is Bat-Chen worried?

Why do you think she wrote in her diary about it?

What might you say to reassure her.

In pairs. One person pretends to be someone going into hospital for an operation; one person is the friend or family trying to make them feel less anxious.

Use the template to draw the worry in the middle and then write some words of comfort to help with the worry in the speech bubbles.