January's Bully Prevention theme: UPstander!

The bully prevention theme this month at Woodland Elementary is UPSTANDER!

 UP-stander:  A person who stands up for his or her beliefs; does what they think is right even if they are alone; NOT a bystander.

Back in October, we celebrated Unity Day (National Bully Prevention Day) by going big.  I mean BIG!.....

This was the stepping stone to our proactive approach to stomp out bullying and stand UNITED as a school and community.

By being Upstanders we are focused on making bad situations into positive ones and assertively (and respectfully!) stand up for ourselves and others!

Here are some ways to implement UPSTANDER into your conversations:

Language Arts:

Have students write a narrative about a time they witnessed bullying or mistreatment of another, and how they made the choice to be a bystander. Have the students share their stories in small groups and then re-write them, changing their role to upstander.

Current Events/Social Studies:

Look through news articles for upstanding citizens ahd have students discuss why that person is an upstander and not a bystander.

Technology:

The application “Awesome Upstanders” is like a bully prevention version of Donkey Kong (school friendly).  I even played the first level and it’s quite addicting J  You could install it on your device or simply have students play it on this website (http://awesomeupstander.com/).  For students that like video games and have a little down time in the classroom after a test, assignment, etc.

Remember Mcgruff the dog?  We’ll he’s back in style and talking to kids about handling bullying situations, being assertive and standing up for yourself and others.  Here is a 5 minute video that would be fun introduction to a conversation about these things:

http://mcgruff.org/#/Videos

Math:

This could be a cool math related visual activity to demonstrate bystander vs. upstander.

http://pinterest.com/pin/573223858790769030/

You could certainly do it digitally as well.  Whatever fits your classroom the best!


Books

These books can lead into a great morning meeting discussion about being assertive upstanders!

·         The Juice Box Bully: Empowering kids to stand up for others by by Bob Sornson and Maria Dismondy

·         Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell

·         One by Kathryne Otoshi

·         Bully B.E.A.N.S.  by Julia Cook

·         Say Something by Peggy Moss