Anti-Bullying Week

This week was Anti-Bullying week. As a class we read stories, watched videos and participated in a kindness activity to put our actions and our words into perspective. The paper doll kindness activity helped students to understand the impact that their words and their actions can have on their peers. 

To begin, each student worked hard to colour a picture of themselves. They were told to make it their best work and to make sure that it looked just like them. Then, we sat in a circle and had a discussion. Students were told to tear, rip, scrunch and mark up the doll of a classmate with crayon. Each rip, scrunch, tear or mark represented a hurtful word, a tease, or an unkind action. Students learned that every time they make fun of someone, tease, kick, or exclude a peer they are leaving a mark that cannot be erased or fixed so easily. After the activity we had a long discussion about how the tearing and ripping made us feel. Students used adjectives like disappointed, surprised, tongue tied and heartbroken. When we talked about how it feels when a peer kicks them, teases, laughs or excludes them, the adjectives they used to describe were very similar: sad, sorry, hurt, angry and upset. We made a word collage to represent how we felt during both activities. The paper doll kindness activity and the word collage are now posted outside of our classroom. The students are eager to share with the school what the activity taught them and how they can stop other from bullying or being unkind to their friends. 

This activity was a springboard to our poster project. Together with a partner, students used what they learned this week to make a digital posters to promote kindness. They had to share how bullying makes someone feel and how we can be better friends. They did a great job of capturing their learning and sharing their ideas on Slides. Students have asked to print their posters and they will be posting their work around the school next week. We hope that students in our school can learn from our digital posters. We hope students will stop and make better choices instead of being hurtful friends.