Bullying is a topic we have started talking about in our Morning Meeting time. At Ridgeview, cases of bullying are much less than other schools, however, we do occasionally run into situations that fall into the bullying category. First Grade is a perfect age to equip children with the tools they need to handle a bully situation as a victim or as a witness.
Bullying can involve three main types of abuse: emotional, verbal and physical. It typically involves subtle methods of coercion such as intimidation.
I will illustrate some examples of what bullying might look like in first grade. A possible scenario would be at recess if 3 girls are playing together and exclude the 4th girl. (In our school with such small classes, having only 4 girls and 4 boys makes it difficult to "play with someone else" sometimes.) Another situation might include teasing of one boy to another while playing catch or soccer. If one boy isn't quite as good as another and is being made fun of to the point where he is uncomfortable and doesn't want to play, that is bullying. And yet a third example could be if one child encourages another to do something they both know is wrong, maybe even promising to play with them or give them something in return.
So, what do we teach our kids about bullying? Well, I like to empower them to help the victim. We have started to discuss in our meeting that if one of us sees an unkind act of bullying taking place, we should approach the situation and say, "We do do that at Ridgeview." Then proceed to say to the victim, "It looks like you could use a friend. I see that you are a little sad right now. Let's take a walk or play together." And then they should leave the area and if need be, come get a teacher. This empowers all of our students to stick up for one another, leaves the bully to think for a moment or two about what he/she was doing and doesn't leave the victim feeling lonely, hurt or left out.
We will continue to encourage kind behavior always, but we will also continue to practice how to handle situations that may arise. Please talk to you children about bullying and help them to understand how to handle it and how to help each other out. We are a family in our class and we need to stick up for each other!
Bullying can involve three main types of abuse: emotional, verbal and physical. It typically involves subtle methods of coercion such as intimidation.
I will illustrate some examples of what bullying might look like in first grade. A possible scenario would be at recess if 3 girls are playing together and exclude the 4th girl. (In our school with such small classes, having only 4 girls and 4 boys makes it difficult to "play with someone else" sometimes.) Another situation might include teasing of one boy to another while playing catch or soccer. If one boy isn't quite as good as another and is being made fun of to the point where he is uncomfortable and doesn't want to play, that is bullying. And yet a third example could be if one child encourages another to do something they both know is wrong, maybe even promising to play with them or give them something in return.
So, what do we teach our kids about bullying? Well, I like to empower them to help the victim. We have started to discuss in our meeting that if one of us sees an unkind act of bullying taking place, we should approach the situation and say, "We do do that at Ridgeview." Then proceed to say to the victim, "It looks like you could use a friend. I see that you are a little sad right now. Let's take a walk or play together." And then they should leave the area and if need be, come get a teacher. This empowers all of our students to stick up for one another, leaves the bully to think for a moment or two about what he/she was doing and doesn't leave the victim feeling lonely, hurt or left out.
We will continue to encourage kind behavior always, but we will also continue to practice how to handle situations that may arise. Please talk to you children about bullying and help them to understand how to handle it and how to help each other out. We are a family in our class and we need to stick up for each other!