I wanted to take a minute to share what our 1st graders have been working on. We have been talking alot lately about bullying and different ways to deal with a bully. One of the ways is to Ignore the bully. And when I talk with the children we also talk about how hard this can be. Especially when someone says something that can really hurt your feelings. In the story we read, Brenda Bee is trying to ignore Big Beetle. In order to do this first she comes up with a "Power Sentence". A Power Sentence is something you say over and over again in your head to try and block out what a bully is saying. I give the students several examples of ones I come up with. Things such as "I am smart", "I am beautiful", and "I am strong". Then I invite everyone who wants to share one they came up with. Next I had the students create an Anti-Bullying Shield. On their shields they were to write their name, draw a picture of themselves, a picture of what they are good at, a picture of what they like to do, and a picture of their friends and family. Next year I plan on making the paper the students use bigger because many of them couldn't fit the picture of their friends and family. However, it was very sweet to see them asking their classmate how to spell each other's names. The students also kept asking how they were suppose to wear their shields ( I didn't add an arm band on the back). So again maybe next year I will make it so the students can actually wear them. They were very excited to let them hang up in the hallway. I tried to remind the students that when they are ignoring someone and saying their "Power Sentence" to try and picture their Anti-Bullying Shield to give them extra strength. I told the students that they can also use the Stand up to Bullying skills even when someone is doing something we don't like and not just being a bully. These are skills the students can use to cope with various friendship problems they may come across as they get older.
