Bullying: Small Group

Piggy-Back Bullying Small Group Idea:

Using the Purple Hand Pledge, brainstorm a list of appropriate ways to use our hands. Put these ideas into wordle.net and create word art for the students to display in their classroom. Tips: The more times you type the word, the larger it appears. If you want the words to appear together, you have to leave out the space between words.

Purple Hand Pledge

Seems like each month has 5 things that are "celebrated" during that time period and I can not keep up. Red Ribbon Week and Bullying Prevention are two things that I feel need a significant amount of time in the Elementary School, and both are October topics, so I focused on Drug Prevention for October and just began my Stop Bullying Now! lessons and school wide Purple Hand Pledge.

For the primary grades, we read the book, "Hands are Not for Hitting" by Martine Agassi and really focused on appropriate uses for our hands. Then each students raises their hand, repeats the Purple Hand Pledge (I will not use my hands or my words for hurting myself or others), and then their favorite part, dip their hand in purple paint and put their mark on their class paper. When the project is finished, the entire wall will be covered with the classroom posters.

 The intermediate grades also get to say the pledge and make their mark, but we focus more on what the pledge means in regards to ourselves. I think as we get older, we tend to beat ourselves up when we are not as successful as we would like or compared with others. So, I pose the question, "What does it mean to be a bully to yourself?," allow the students time to journal, and then share and discuss.

The picture is the bulletin board, which is just black butcher paper and drawn on with chalk. I used to love making, changing, creating exciting bulletin boards in my classroom, so I am thankful to be in an elementary school where I still get to do some of this :) 

 

Parent Contact

Striving to connect with parents more frequently, I put up a giant bulletin board right outside my office, in a high traffic area. After covering the board with butcher paper and decorating it fun for easy visibility, I cut out letters (bc the school ones are boring) to define my sections, "Parent Resources" and "Inspiration." With all the awesome quotes on Pinterest, I thought it would be fun to print some out and rotate them. In the resources section, I put up info that involves holiday help, parenting classes, fun stuff to do with the family, local agencies, etc. I am updating it a couple of times a week as there are always new things going on. The table in front says, "Parent Info, Please help yourself!" I put out copies of the flyers that are on the board and also parenting magazines. (Blessed to have a friend that owns a daycare and gives me all her leftovers)!