A Book to Help You Teach Manners in Your Elementary School Classroom

A Book to Teach Manners in the Elementary Classroom

“Oli and Basil” is a beautifully illustrated book that tells a story of teamwork and collaboration, making it a great resource for teaching manners, social skills, and character in an elementary classroom.

Here’s How an Elementary Teacher Might Use This Book to Teach Manners and Etiquette in the Classroom

1. Introduce the Story:

Read-Aloud Session: The illustrations in this book is one of the highlights. Gather your students for story time and share the artwork as you read. Encourage students to observe the illustrations and discuss the emotions and actions of the characters.
Discussion: After reading, ask open-ended questions about the story. For example, “How did Oli and Basil work together?” or “What challenges did they face, and how did they overcome them?”

2. Teach Manners and Social Skills:

Role-Playing: Have students role-play different scenarios from the book where characters demonstrated good manners, such as listening, sharing, or helping others.
Group Activities: Organize activities where students must work together to complete a task, reinforcing the importance of collaboration and good social behavior.
Manners Chart: Create a classroom chart that lists positive behaviors demonstrated by the characters in the book. Each time a student exhibits one of these behaviors, they can add a sticker to the chart.

3. Character Education:

Character Traits: Identify key character traits in the story, such as kindness, responsibility, and perseverance. Discuss how these traits were important to the characters’ success.
Character Journals: Encourage students to keep a journal where they write about a time they displayed a positive character trait, linking it back to examples from the book.

4. Classroom Projects:

Collaborative Projects: Assign group projects that require teamwork, much like Oli and Basil’s collaboration. This could be anything from creating a class mural to working on a science experiment.
Art and Writing Activities: Have students draw scenes from the book or write a short story about a time they worked with someone else to solve a problem.

5. Reinforce Lessons with Visuals:

Bulletin Board Display: Create a bulletin board that features the characters and key lessons from the book. This visual reminder can help reinforce the importance of teamwork and good manners throughout the school year.

6. Extension Activities:

Home Connection: Send a note home with students encouraging parents to discuss the themes of the book and how they can apply them at home.
Follow-Up Books: Introduce other books that emphasize similar themes of cooperation, kindness, and good manners, creating a series of lessons that build on each other.

Using “Oli and Basil” in these ways can help an elementary teacher create a classroom environment where teamwork, collaboration, and positive social interactions are highly valued.