Help kindergarten and first-grade students think about what makes a friendship genuine with this counselor-led friendship lesson and detective-themed Evidence Sort. Students discuss qualities of a true friend, consider behaviors that may signal an unreliable friend, and practice deciding whether a friend’s actions show genuine friendship.

What’s Included

• A lesson plan with a learning objective, materials, discussion prompts, activity directions, and an assessment suggestion.
• The Evidence Sort slide activity, in which students take turns deciding whether a friend is true or fake and marking the case with the appropriate stamp.
• A printable “Case of a True Friend” worksheet where students draw and describe a true friend.

How to Use It

Begin with a guided conversation about friendship. Invite students to name characteristics such as listening, helpfulness, reliability, and trustworthiness. Then introduce the Evidence Sort and let students participate in turns. The lesson plan suggests allowing 15 minutes for the activity. The worksheet provides a follow-up opportunity for students to show what they understand through drawing and writing.

Use the lesson in a whole-class or small-group setting, including an elementary school counseling lesson. The plan lists a board and marker as materials alongside the Evidence Sort activity. The slide file is a presentation, while the worksheet is provided as a PDF for printing.

Skills and Learning Focus

Students work on recognizing characteristics of genuine friendship, discussing and explaining their ideas, making decisions about social situations, and identifying ways to be a responsible friend. The lesson plan also emphasizes collaborative participation and includes an objective focused on distinguishing genuine from fake friendship.

Designed for grades K–1, this resource offers a structured way to open age-appropriate conversations about friendship and reflect on the qualities students value in a friend.