No Name Calling Week Jan 18-22

During the week of January 18-22, Lee Elementary will be celebrating kindness and observing No Name-Calling Week.  No Name-Calling Week was inspired by the popular young adult novel entitled The Misfits by popular author James Howe. The book tells the story of four best friends trying to survive the seventh grade in the face of all too frequent taunts based on their weight, height, intelligence, and sexual orientation/gender expression. The friends create a new political party during student council elections and run on a platform aimed at wiping out name-calling of all kinds. The No-Name Party in the end, wins the support of the school's principal for their cause and their idea for a "No Name-Calling Day" at school.

In classroom lessons we read The Name Jar written by Yangsook Choi.  In the story, a new student moves from Korea to the United States and is teased about her name, Unhei.  To avoid the teasing, Unhei decides that she will pick another name instead, and the students in her classroom start offering up many suggestions.  Will she keep her own unique name or change it?  Check out the sweet story to find out the ending.

After discussing the importance of our names, we had a snowball fight.  Yes, you heard me right!  Each student received a piece of white paper and folded it into 4 equal parts.  In each box we wrote about something different that had to do with our names:

• Do you like your name? Why or why not?
• Do you know why you were names this? Explain.
• If you could pick any name for yourself, what would it be?
• What does your name mean?

They didn't include their own names on their paper to make the snowball fight extra tricky.  They crumpled up their papers and on the count of three threw them around the room.  Each student found a different snowball to open up and try to figure out who's owner it was from the clues inside.  Once they found their match they discussed what they learned about each other.

The second part of the activity came in a subsequent lesson, and was initiated by our 6th graders in the No Place for Hate Coalition.  As one of our projects for No Place for Hate, the 6th graders came up with a thoughtful project that coordinated with No Name-Calling Week.  Each student would receive a small mosaic tile.  They would write hurtful names they have been called or mean words that affected them with sharpie all over the colored tile.  This would help to heal ourselves by removing the horrible memory of its existence from inside our heads and placed visually onto the tile.  Here are some samples from different grade levels:

***STAY TUNED!***

The tiles will be crushed, smashed and hammered into little broken pieces destroying the power these harsh words have had on us.  Then, with the tiny pieces left, they will be crafted into a hopeful mosaic art piece to be hung in the hallway at Lee - representing the positive outlook we have going forward at our school.

Dare: Bystander vs Upstander

In fourth grade this week we finished up our bullying unit with the much anticipated Dare by Erin Frankel.  This is the third book in The Weird Series that features the same story told from 3 different perspectives: the bully, the bystander & the target.  Students were anxiously awaiting the last character's perspective because it most relates to the position they are often in.

After reading and discussing the story from Jayla's point of view, we created flipbooks to differentiate the behavior of a bystander compared to an upstander.  Whereas a bystander = stand by; an upstander = stands up.  We brainstormed qualities of each and they used their creativity to get the point across.

Respecting our Differences

January is a special month at our school.  It is filled with opportunities for students to reflect on their uniqueness and learn about what makes us each an original.  In addition to observing Martin Luther King, Jr's birthday, we also celebrate African American History Month with a program put on by our fifth graders.  No Name-Calling Week and The Great Kindness Challenge also occur this month.  To reinforce the idea of respecting our differences and treating each other with kindness, we read The Sneetches by Dr. Seuss in kindergarten.

This is one of my favorite stories by Dr. Seuss and the message is so powerful.  Although there is a great (free) youtube video on this story, I always enjoy reading it so I can pause at specific points and engage the kindergarteners in discussion.  Students can't stay quiet once they begin seeing how the star-bellied Sneetches treat the ones without "stars upon thars."  As chaos ensues in the story, a natural discussion comes up and students do not understand why the Sneetches do not accept each other for who they are.  After the story I gave each student their very own star to write or draw what makes them special.

(They chose to decorate our Sneetch with all of their uniqueness-es)

It Only Takes 1.

This week in kindergarten we read One by Kathryn Toshi.  After many weeks of lessons on bullying behaviors and awareness, this book illustrates the simplicity of how each of us can be an upstander.

We reviewed the 4 qualifiers of bullying (mean behavior, repetitive, on purpose, trying to control/have power) and elaborated that once someone bullies it doesn't mean they always will.  Standing up for ourselves or someone else in need takes away the power from the situation.  Once one of us stands up, more are likely to join and put an end to the mean behavior.  I then handed out a large "1" to students to decorate how they can be an upstander.  Here is the link to the cute "1" I found.

Tough: Exploring More About Bullying

In fourth grade we continued reading the next book in Erin Frankel's series, Tough.

This story takes on the perspective from the student that is bullying.  Before we began the story, we brainstormed ideas on why people choose to bully:

After the story we checked our chart to see how many of our ideas were represented in the story.  Then I had students log on to a few different websites that have videos and games to reinforce concepts related to bullying.

Here are the links:

It's My Life

Stop Bullying

Stop the Bully

Kids Against Bullying

The Juice Box Bully

After learning all about bullying, our first graders were ready to learn more about what to do when they see it happening.  We read The Juice Box Bully written by Bob Sornson & Maria Dismondy to discover ways that we can stand up for each other when we seeing someone being unkind.

After the story we brainstormed ideas that we can try if we see someone being bullied or treated unkindly.  They came up with a huge list of ideas!

Then they created their own juiceboxes to explain what they would do:

Learning about Cyberbullying

In 6th grade we've had increasing reports of inappropriate behavior happening on cell phones and online after school.  In order to prevent cyberbullying and help students be aware of the dangers of cyberbullying, I found a great lesson on CommonSense Media called "Cyberbullying: Crossing the Line.  This lesson helped students learn to distinguish good-natured teasing from cyberbullying by analyzing online bullying behaviors that "cross the line," learning about the various ways that students can be cyberbullied and adopting the point of view of teens who have been cyberbullied and offer solutions.

We started by discussing,

1. What are some of the ways that you and your friends tease each other online for fun?
2. When does teasing "cross the line" and become harmful?
3. What are some signs, and what does it feel like to be in that situation?

We then watched the video "Stacey's Story - When Rumors Escalate."  After the video I mixed up the students into small groups and had them discuss the following:

• Why did the girls start to harass and threaten Stacey online in the first place?
• When do you think the girls' behavior "crossed the line"?
• Stacey says, "People talk really big, when there's like, miles between you." What do you think she means by this statement?
• In what ways might the online context make the situation worse than if the bully had harassed Stacey offline?
• Stacey's mom says that Stacey should call the school and report the incidents.  Stacey responds that it would "just make it worse." Do you think this is true?  Why or why not?

Afterward we shared our discussions with the group.  We expanded our discussion to how cyberbullying is different from bullying and what steps to take if something sent to us "crosses the line."

Finally we watched this informational video from stopbullying.gov:

Weird: Being Me.

In fourth grade we began the first book in Erin Frankel's series, named Weird.  Weird tells the perspective of a "target" in a bullying situation occurring at school.  The main character, Luisa, thinks that by changing herself it will end the bullying and relentless teasing.  She eventually learns that the more she is herself, the happier she is and her confidence soars - putting an end to the bullying.

I asked students to think about what makes them "weird" and unique.  What makes you special and different from everyone else?  With these questions in mind, students began a fun & colorful art project to show off who they really are on the inside.