Second Grade Bullying Unit

Hello!  I know it's been a long time since I blogged.  Balancing all the roles of a school counselor can be quite challenging! 

Second graders just completed their bullying unit.  They know that bullying is:

On purpose to hurt
Happens over and over

They also understand that:
Bullying= Danger

Second graders role played telling an adult if they are being bullied or, if they know someone else who is being bullied   They understand how hurtful bullying can be!

We also read two really great stories:
Froggy Tames a Bully
The Bully Blockers Club

I especially like the Bully Blockers Club because it demonstrates kids bonding together to stop bullying.  Although we don't introduce the concept of "imbalance of power" in second grade, this book does a great job at showing how kids can take the power away from a bully by sticking together.
 
Here are some of their amazing anti-bullying posters!  I posted some of them on our bulletin board.  We have some really fabulous artists at DBS!

Cyber Safety and Bullying

As part of our bullying unit in fourth grade I conducted a lesson on cyber safety.  For this lesson I used the book Mr. Peabody's Apples, by the one and only Madonna!

The students really enjoy this story.  In the book the character Tommy Tittlebottom witnesses Mr. Peabody taking apples from a local vendor without paying.  Tommy tells his friends Mr. Peabody is a thief.  They of course tell their parents ,who then tell their neighbors, until the whole town thinks Mr. Peabody is a thief.  Mr. Peabody is ostracized because of the rumor.  Tommy discovers that Mr. Peabody pays for the apples every Saturday when he purchases his milk.  Tommy of course feels awful that he judged Mr. Peabody and started such an awful rumor.  To teach Tommy a lesson, Mr. Peabody asks him to bring a pillow filled with feathers.  They cut open the pillow and the wind carries the feathers all through the land.  Mr. Peabody then tells Tommy that each feather represents someone in Happville.  He asks Tommy to pick up all the feathers.  This of course is an impossible task.

After reading the story I asked the fourth graders:

How did people communicate in the story?  Word of mouth
How do people often communicate today?  The internet
What in the this story represents all the different ways to communicate over the internet?  The feathers

This then resulted in a great discussion about how once you post something on the internet it is impossible to get it back.  Fourth graders love talking about this stuff.  I informed them that even if they post something and delete it from their computer, the post is still out there for others to find.  This is especially true if someone has gotten a hold of the post and forwarded on to a friend.  To reinforce the discussion I played this youtube video:

In this lesson I only brushed on the topic of internet safety.  We have a group called Techincool coming in May to have a more in depth discussion about internet safety with fourth and fifth graders.  The internet has become such a large part of kids' lives.  This makes teaching internet safety skills a critical part to their education.  As I mentioned before they love talking about this stuff!  This of course makes my job much more fun. :-)

Standing Up to Bullies

Fourth graders are continuing to learn about bullying.  They are doing a really great job at defining that:

 Bullying = Danger

Bullying is:

On Purpose to Hurt

It Happens Over and Over Again

An Imbalance of Power

The five types of bullying are:

Physical

Verbal

Social

Intimidation

Cyberbullying

Fourth graders have gotten so good at these definitions that I choose students to teach the review portion of the bullying lessons.  They really love doing this and it is a great way for them to work on their presentation skills.

A critical aspect of bullying education is helping students identify strategies to deal with a bullying situation. 

I used the book Confessions of a Former Bully to provide students with strategies for standing up to a bully.  They love this book because it is written from a bully's perspective.

. Strategies for standing up to a bully: 

1.  Say "Stop It" in a strong and assertive voice.

2.  Walk Away from the bully.

3.  Say "Huh, Whatever, So, Who Cares". 

4.  Change The Subject.

5.  Act Silly or Goofy

6.  Turn An Insult Into a Compliment

7.  Agree

When I taught these strategies I advised students only to use the strategies they were comfortable with.  For example, not everyone might feel comfortable agreeing with the bully.  Second, I explained that these strategies might not always work in the moment, and that they don't always stop the bullying.  It is still important to tell a trusted adult that the bullying is going on.  

Students were given scenerios and asked to provide examples of how they could use these strategies.  They then practiced by role playing in front of the class.  The lesson went very well!  This week I asked students if any of them had tried the strategies in real life situations.  Many of them had!  My follow up question of course was, "did it work?" and most of them responded with "yes." Thier responses resulted in one happy school counselor!

EveryONE Belongs

To wrap up our first grade unit on bullying we read the book One by Kathryn Otoshi. The characters in the book are colors: Red, a bully; Blue, his target; and Yellow, Orange, Green, and Purple, who don't like the bullying, but don't know what to do to stop it. When they don't speak up, Red gets stronger and Blue gets weaker, and everyone is unhappy. . . Until One comes along and shows everyone how to stand up for themselves and each other. One provides a powerful lesson on including others and how sometimes just one person can make a difference.

The first graders thought about ways that they could make sure that everyone is included, then made collage pictures to illustrate their ideas about. Here are a few examples of kids including everyone when they play basketball, read, play foursquare, do math, play kickball, play hockey, and draw:

Have a bully free holiday!

In the spirit of the holiday season some of the fourth graders decided to decorate my door. Their brilliant idea goes perfectly with our bullying unit!

Have a bully free holiday!

Stop Bullying -- It Only Takes One!

The Fourth Graders just began learning about bullying. Such an important topic! For our first lesson we defined bullying.

Bullying=Danger

It is bullying if:
It's on purpose to hurt
It happens over and over
There is an imbalance of power

We also read and discussed the book "One." This book is a great way to demonstrate how sometimes it only takes "one" person to stop bullying! Here are some pictures about what fourth graders could say or do to stop a bullying situation.

.

You Can't Say "You Can't Play"

One way that kids sometimes bully others is by excluding them from their play. The first graders want to make sure that nobody gets left out, and if it does, they remind each other:

You can't say "You can't play!"

They love this idea, and they love talking about it! When I stop by their classrooms, inevitably someone comes up to me and repeats the saying or tells me about how they have used it recently. Sometimes someone will mistakenly say, "you can't play you can't say," which everyone finds very funny! Yesterday as they were leaving the cafeteria, one first grader saw me across the front lobby and called, "Hey Mrs. Lallier, you can't say 'you can't play!'" and scampered off to recess with a big smile on her face.

But what if the last time a kid played with you, he did something you didn't like? You still need to include him, but first ask him to please not do it again. You might say,

"Yes, you can play with us, but please follow the rules of the game"
or
"You can play with me, but please don't yell in my ear."

Here's an example:

If that doesn't work, then ask a teacher to help, but most of the time first graders know how to solve these problems themselves. When you and a friend work out your friendship problems all by yourselves, you feel very proud!

Recently one first grader told me that he has gotten better at "playing with different people and making friends with them and caring about other people. When [student] tells people they can’t play, I stand up for them and tell him, 'You can’t say you can’t play.'”

Here are some other pictures first graders drew about including others:

Brave, Bold First Graders

Do you know how to tell the difference between bullying and plain old mean behaviors? First graders do! They know that it's not okay to be mean OR to bully, because both of those behaviors are unfriendly and hurt people's feelings.

Recently, first graders finished a unit on bullying. They learned how to tell the difference between behavior that is mean and behavior that is bullying. It's bullying if one of these things is happening:

• someone is being mean over and over
• there is a threat
• a group of people is being mean

Ask a first grader to tell you what they should do if someone is bullying, and they will answer, "Tell a teacher." In our post-unit assessment all 38 of them got the answer to this question correct! Every student got a chance to practice telling Mrs. Burriss, Mrs. Thorburn, or Mrs. Lallier that they were being bullied. Here's what they said:

Student: Mrs. _______, someone is bullying me.
Teacher: How do you know it's bullying?
Student: It is happening over and over. / The person threatened me. /
A group of people are being mean.
Teacher: Thank you for telling me. We're going to solve this problem!

But what if the teacher you tell doesn't understand or doesn't believe you? First graders know -- you tell another teacher! They all practiced doing this as well:

Student: Mrs. _______, someone is bullying me.
Teacher 1: Oh, just ignore it! / Solve it yourself! / Go play! / Don't tattle!
Student: (goes to another teacher) Mrs. _______, someone is bullying me.
Teacher 2: How do you know it's bullying?
Student: It is happening over and over. / The person threatened me. /
A group of people are being mean.
Teacher 2: Thank you for telling me. We're going to solve this problem!

To help learn about the importance of telling an adult when bullying occurs, we read Howard B. Wigglebottom Learns About Bullies, and learned the refrain:

Be Brave, Be Bold
A Teacher Must be Told!

To hear the Be Brave, Be Bold song and find Howard B. Wigglebottom activities, click here.

Here are some more of the first graders' pictures of themselves telling a teacher about bullying.

Fifth Grade Anti-Bullying Activities

The fifth graders have been hard at work learning about bullying and what they can do to stop it. Each class council begins with a randomly selected fifth grader taking charge of the SmartBoard and leading a review of bullying concepts. Almost every student has their hand raised for every question! Many of the kids want to do extra activities to learn more about bullying and share what they have learned. After playing a game about bullying prevention during a lunch group, a couple of fifth graders came up with the idea of creating a bullying-themed Jeopardy game for class councils and offered to give up some recess time to help create it. Several other kids have been using their recess time to create a bulletin board that illustrates how bullying feels, the four types of bullying (verbal, physical, social, intimidation), how to tell if a situation is bullying (it's on purpose to hurt, happens over and over, and involves an imbalance of power), and what to do (tell an adult right away!) Here are close-ups of the bulletin board materials:

The Four Types of Bullying

You know it's bullying if . . .

it's on purpose to hurt

it happens over and over

and involves an imbalance of power

How bullying feels . . .

5th Grade Book Group

Fifth graders Emily and Jessica very kindly invited me to join their book group with Mrs. Vielleux to read Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine. Mockingbird is beautifully and realistically told from the perspective of 11-year-old Caitlin, who has Asperger's syndrome. None of us were able to stick to the nightly page assignments; the book is so good that we all "illegally" read ahead!

We had great conversations about how it must feel to think and perceive the social world so differently than most of us do. The girls learned a lot about Asperger's and the challenges that kids with Asperger's face. They showed a lot of empathy for Caitlin and rooted for her as she learned how to make a friend, deal with bullying, and help herself and her father heal after a tragedy. They also had questions for me about how I work with kids with Asperger's and if I do some of the same things that Caitlin's school counselor, Mrs. Brooks, does. (The answer was yes!).

Mockingbird provided the girls great background for our 5th grade class council unit on bullying. This week we started talking about invisible differences (differences that are not readily obvious to peers) and Jessica and Emily were able to share a lot of information about how kids with Asperger's might be at risk of being targets for bullying. And guess what! Now other kids are interested in reading this wonderful book. We highly recommend it to parents too!

Bullying = Danger!

The fifth graders started a unit on bullying in class councils this week. We learned that . . .

Bullying = Danger!

A situation is bullying if it . . .

• is on purpose to hurt

• happens over and over

• involves an imbalance of power

Because bullying is dangerous, you must ALWAYS tell an adult about it, whether it's happening to you or to someone else. Bullying is NOT something kids can solve for themselves. If the adult doesn't believe you or tells you to solve it yourself, tell them, "We're always supposed to tell when it's bullying. I know this is bullying because it's on purpose to hurt, it happens over and over, and there's an imbalance of power."

After learning how to tell if a situation is bullying, the fifth graders watched some video clips and analyzed the bullying behaviors they had noticed. Their ability to think deeply about what was happening and their empathy for the bullying targets in the movie were impressive. Many of them spoke right up about how they would have helped if they had witnessed the bullying.

Over the course of the unit we will learn about the different types of bullying, why people bully, what to do if you: are being bullied; see someone being bullied; are the friend of someone who is bullying; or are bullying someone else. Stay tuned for more information and student work samples!