Bullying Academy

Web-shot Of: http://www.bullyingacademy.org/index.cfm

Recently, I received an email advertising the Bullying Academy.  This is a grant funded, web-based program for students in grades 4th-8th.  I decided to try it out with my 4th and 5th grade classes.  First, you have to register your school, and then each student registers and receives a user name and log-in.  For my first guidance lesson, I had time to explain what the academy was, help students log-in, and then take a "pre-quiz." The pre-quiz assesses what students already know about bullying.  That's as far as we have gotten so far, but myself and my students are very excited to pick it back up next week!

Once the students take their pre-quiz, they begin a series of lesson modules that include articles, information, and videos on what bullying is, why kids bully, what to do when someone is bullying you, and cyber-bullying.  The website has "follow along" worksheets for each grade level that the students can fill out while going through the lessons.  I know that this will be important for my students to ensure they read and not just skip to the videos!  After all the students have finished the lessons, there is a post-quiz to assess what they have learned.

My students are using Ipads to complete the Bullying Academy, and I think it will be a very engaging lesson and a new way of learning about bullying.

Unique Snowflakes

Last weekend we had a wonderful snow storm...thus, we had a snow day on Monday and 2 hours late on Tuesday.  It was a fabulous break for both students and staff! The 5 inches of snow inspired this guidance lesson for 1st grade on Tuesday.

The goal was to teach respecting differences and valuing yourself for who you are.  First, I helped students realize just how many differences they had that made them special by playing a modified version of the game "Trainwreck."  The students sat in a circle on the floor with one student standing in the middle. The child in the middle says "I like people who (insert something that makes them unique, like wear glasses, like to swim, have freckles, love to read, etc..)  Any student who has that "trait" in common stands up and rushes to find a new seat while the students in the middle also tries to find a seat.  The last student standing is the next "it."  This game is fun for children and they also learn new things about their classmates.  We debriefed the game with a discussion.  I asked students if they learned anything new about a classmate, and we talked about how it is okay to be friends with kids who look different from us and like to do different things then they do.  The message was acceptance and our differences make us special.

Source

Next, in honor of our recent snow, we read the story Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin.  This wonderful book is about William Bentley and his life of photographing snowflakes.  Through his photography collection we know that no 2 snowflakes are the same.  Every one is unique and beautiful, just like my kiddos at school!  We ended the lesson by making snowflakes and I had the students share them when they were finished so we had another opportunity to celebrate how different they all turned out.  This lesson was very successful, because the students were so excited about snow and they love sharing information about themselves.  What other ways to do you teach self esteem and respecting differences?

Take A Stand: 5th Grade Bullying Lessons

To capture my students’ attention at the beginning of the lesson, I had them pretend that they were doctors (or counselors) and I was a 5^th grade girl who was coming to see them because I’ve been so sad lately.  I said, “You know when are sick or having problems you go to see a doctor or a counselor? Well, today, I’m going to be the 5^th grader and you are going to be my doctor. So pretend that I have just come into your office and sat down and you ask me what’s been bothering me.  Once I tell you what’s wrong, your job is to sort through everything you hear and tell me what you think is causing my problems.”  They were all very excited to be my doctor! J  Here is what I said:

“My name is Abby and I haven’t been feeling good lately.  I don’t want to go to school or even play in my basketball game on Saturday.  I have to go to my dad’s house tonight but I don’t want to.  He doesn’t understand any of my problems. This weekend my friends are having a sleepover, but I probably won’t even get an invitation, because last week at lunch everyone was having fun and all I wanted to talk about was my dog that died.  All in all things just aren’t going well at all!”

Then, I asked students what they thought the root of my sadness was.  Most students thought Abby was sad because her parents were divorced and her dad didn't understand her, her dog died, her friends weren't going to invite her to their sleepover, etc...They were a little surprised when I said, "Yes, those are all things that usually really upset students Abby's age, but in her case the thing that was bothering her the most was that other kids at school were calling her names everyday and bullying her.  This is why she didn't want to come to school anymore."  I explained to my students that in this "case study" Abby had serious problems, but none of them were more serious than being a victim of bullying.  I think this helped them think of the effects of bullying in a different way than they had before.

Next we did an activity from the "No Name Calling Week" lesson plans, called Response Cards. Each student got a copy of these cards and cut them apart:

Then, we talked about ways to "take a stand" and who to "ask for help." I read them a couple bullying scenarios from the lesson plan and they held up which option they would do in that situation and we discussed each one as a class.  

In my next lesson, students chose a typical bullying scenario and drew rough drafts of "Bully Comic Strips."  I got the idea from this lesson in the "No Name Calling Week" plans.  They had 4-6 blocks for their comic. The first box set up the setting for their bullying scenario and the second box included the bullying.  In the third box the students were to illustrate a character either taking a stand or asking for help.  And, in the fourth box, they drew the conclusion.  We used Lego Comic Builder to create our comics. Here is my example: 

No Name Calling Week

Last week was officially "No Name Calling Week," or as my students like to call it, "No Bullying Week." What better week to begin my bullying unit?!  I thought I would share some of my ideas with you. I got a lot of my resources from http://www.nonamecallingweek.org/cgi-bin/iowa/home.html. They provide a teacher guide, parent letters, school-wide activities, and more.

Classroom Guidance Lesson for 3rd grade
Today, we read Simon's Hook: A Story About Teases and Put Downs by Karen Burnett and talked about what to do when someone is teasing you or calling you names.

I picked this book specifically for No Name Calling week, but also because I know of some current friendship concerns in 3rd grade.  My hope is to give the students who are being picked on some confidence and some tricks to "pull out of their bag" when their classmates are being mean to them. Also, as a way to encourage more positive behavior, I had each student pull another student's name out of a cup and had them write a "put-up" message to that person. We talked about what a put-up is and brainstormed ideas of nice things to say to each other. I made sure to tell them to tailor their put-up message specifically to the person's name they drew so we didn't get lots of general put-ups like, "you're nice" and "you're a great friend."  I created this document and printed it off on label paper so that I could stick the put-ups up on a bulletin board.  Then, as the students walk by the board they can search it for the put-up written to them and hopefully it will brighten their day :) not to mention provide a visual of hundred of examples of put-ups.

Next week, I plan on showing these 3 videos to review Simon's Hook and remind students how to "not get caught by the bully's bait!"

Check back tomorrow for No Name Calling Week ideas to use with 5th grade and 4th grade! :)

Teaching Friendship with Real Life Animal Stories

I am a LOVER of bookstores. I religiously browse Barnes and Noble and Books A Million for new books to use in my guidance program. Lately I kept noticing non-fiction animal stories with sub-titles like, "The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship" and "The True Story of an Unlikely Friendship."  How could I resist?!  What better way to capture students' interest than to use real life stories and photographs of animal friendships! I decided to teach these books as a friendship unit and I started it this year in 2nd grade.  The stories and lessons were a huge success! Here are the books I used....

 

http://www.amazon.com/Friend-Einstein-Smallest-Stallion/dp/1423145631/ref=pd_sim_b_4

http://www.amazon.com/Owen-Mzee-Story-Remarkable-Friendship/dp/0439829739

 

http://www.amazon.com/Tarra-Bella-Elephant-Became-Friends/dp/0399254439/ref=pd_sim_b_1 

http://www.amazon.com/Tarra-Bella-Elephant-Became-Friends/dp/0399254439/ref=pd_sim_b_1

I started with A Friend for Einstein 

by Charlie Cantrell and Dr. Rachel Wagner

First, I explained the unit to the students and they were very excited to see pictures and hear stories of real life animals. I read them the story and throughout the book we talked about how Einstein was very different from the other horses and how this made it hard for him to find friends. I could tell that they instantly connected with Einstein because I heard many things like "Aw, poor Einstein," "I would be his friend," and "He's soooo cute!"   The moment I knew the lesson was going to be successful was when I heard one student say, "They shouldn't leave him out just because he's small!" Yes! I thought. They get the moral of the story: to be nice to everyone and not to exclude anyone just because they are different. 

Next, I showed them an ActiveInspire lesson I created on the book. I used a LOT of information from http://thesmalleststallion.com/mystory.html.

Here is a glimpse of what you will find: 

There are also videos, and pictures, and a teacher discussion guide on this website to use in your lesson.

To send the final message home for my class, I passed out a blank index card to every student and had them write 3 things that make them different on one side and then draw pictures of these things on the back.  This was a way to celebrate our differences and learn to accept everyone.  The teacher posted them on a bulletin board with the title, "Our Differences Make Us Special!"

The next week we read Owen and Mzee: The True Story of A Remarkable Friendship by Isabella Hatkoff, Craig Hatkoff, and Paula Kahumbu

Again, I read the story and the kids were fascinated by the pictures.  After the story we talked about taking care of your friends and what it means to be loyal.  There is an amazing website that accompanies this story: http://www.owenandmzee.com/omweb/home.html.  We used the video maker on the ActiveBoard to bring this lesson to life. 

We finished the unit with Suryia and Roscoe by Dr. Bhagavan Antle and Tarra and Bella by Carol Buckley

I spent one guidance lesson on each of these stories continuing to teach the characteristics of good friendship. I used these websites as supplements to the lessons: http://www.suryiaandroscoe.com/ and http://www.elephants.com/aboutSanctuary.php.

Has anyone else used these stories in their guidance program? If so, please leave a comment and share your ideas!