Wicked Friendships

This Wicked Friendships resource immerses the class in the wonderful world of Oz using the themes of friendship, challenges and change as stimuli to learn about the main characters in the blockbuster film, Wicked: For Good. With links to both the PSHE and Citizenship curriculums, learners will consider important characteristics of friendship and reflect on what they can do to make positive changes.

The first lesson in the resource sequence focuses on Glinda and Elphaba’s friendship to determine what it means to be a friend. Learners will use the Find a Friend activity sheet to speak to their classmates and discover their similarities and differences. A class discussion will follow, in which learners will explore the influence of the media in determining our perceptions about people, followed by a class discussion linked to media literacy outcomes. The Spells of Friendship word task considers the key characteristics of friendship, and then learners will complete a sentence about friendship using the jigsaw pieces on the Pieces of Us activity sheet. Working in small groups, they will assemble the pieces into a completed jigsaw and take time to reflect on how they all fit together. Following the lesson, learners can complete the Magically Me home-learning sheet allowing them to express their identity through self-portraits and celebrate their own unique qualities in a visual way.

Lesson two begins with learners thinking about how Glinda and Elphaba’s friendship may be tested in the film and sharing examples of how they themselves may have encountered similar situations in their own friendships. An example of how to navigate conflicts and challenges in friendships will be discussed as learners then consider what is meant by ‘change for good’. Using the Road to Change activity sheet, learners will take a journey on the yellow brick road to depict themselves and then represent who or what has changed them for good. An activity to think about what changes each learner can make for good will follow on the Make a Change activity sheet with prompts to include a change for themselves, at home, at school and for the local community or environment. As an extension activity, you can also discuss what changes for good your class could organise to help the school or local community or to fundraise for a good cause.

Our Welcome to Oz competition sheet asks learners to design a travel poster for one of the wonderful settings in the Land of Oz, as featured in Wicked: For Good, showing everything that it has to offer. In their poster, learners can include, for example, the people and animals that live there, the scenery, nature and the buildings. There will also be space on the competition sheet for learners to add a slogan or motto about their chosen destination to encourage
people to visit.