What can the most beautiful fish in the ocean teach a group of senior kindergarten (SK) students about building positive relationships and maintaining friendships? Through an inquiry into “Who we are” at TK, Ms Pritika’s class read “The Rainbow Fish” story by Marcus Pfister.

The central idea was to explore how the way we think and act influences our relationships. In the Rainbow fish’s case, he was the most beautiful fish in the ocean but also the loneliest. He was initially prideful and refused to share any of his special shiny scales with the other fishes but thanks to an octopus’s advice, he learned that he had to learn how to share his scales in order to make friends.

This meaningful story helped the SK students to reflect on the importance of positive interactions with their peers such as learning how to work as a group, showing respect and sharing resources. To further reinforce their understanding, Ms Pritika set up an activity where the students had to work in a group and decorate a rainbow fish collage using coloured scales.

Although it was not easy working around a small table (ie limited space) and sharing limited resources (ie the coloured scales), the SK students demonstrated their impressive communication, social and self-management skills by patiently waiting to take their turn at the group activity. You can tell that the students really took the lesson to heart as they worked closely as a group to create a Rainbow Fish collage. Well done everyone, the Rainbow Fish looked o-fish-ally fabulous!