STMA schools help students build friendship skills through a variety of activities during the school day. Many primary and elementary teachers use Responsive Classroom activities to help students learn and practice positive ways to interact. The Responsive Classroom web page is noted below if parents want more information. The STMA school district uses the Character Counts! guidelines to teach six positive character traits for interacting with others: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship. These are guidelines that we reinforce to help students learn skills to be kind friends.
Below are resources that I use to help students with friendship skills, including books and websites. I'll continue adding resources; please let me know if you have things to recommend :)
Books:
How to Be a Friend by Laurie Krasny Brown and Marc Brown
Making Friends by Fred Rogers
My Friends by Taro Gomi
Amadeus Best Friends by Eli Cantillion
How Humans Make Friends by Loreen Leedy
Do Unto Otters: A Book About Manners by Laurie Keller
Personal Space Camp by Julia Cook (+ many other great books by Julia Cook! Check out her web page below)
Simon's Hook: A Story about Teases & Put Downs by Karen Gedig Burnett A good resource for 3rd and 4th graders who need ideas for how to deal with teasing and put-downs.
Sometimes I Feel Like I Don't Have Any Friends (but not so much anymore) by Tracy Zimmerman & Lawrence Shapiro
You Can Make Friends by Lawrence Shapiro & Greg Elkins
Websites:
understood.org is designed to help adults understand their child's learning and attention issues. It also includes great information on friends and feelings.
http://www.pbisworld.com/ is a web page with LOTS of good links for different social work areas. Lots of different ideas for behavior interventions!
http://booksthathealkids.blogspot.com/ Additional books on a variety of topics!
http://www.juliacookonline.com/ A variety of great books on a range of friendship & other social skill topics.