Pinterest x 2 = Awesome lesson on bullying

I mentioned in my Letters to Miss D post that I went to help in class again before starting lead-in days. I didn't mention that I took over the class! My supervising teacher now attends committee meetings Tuesday afternoons meaning a replacement comes in to do our weekly Religion or Friendly Schools lesson.

Lightbulb!

"Can I maybe take over instead?"

So now, Tuesday afternoons are all mine.

This term, we are looking at bullying.

We start by revising the five types of bullying (exclusion, lies/rumours, verbal, physical and threats). Then a quick worksheet where groups come up with specific examples of bullying they see on the playground (e.g. pushing, not allowing someone to join a game, calling someone names, etc) and rate each of these according to how frequently they see it.

We did all this within 20 minutes. I have another 20 minutes to play with!

So a quick YouTube clip I've used on another prac.

We discussed the types of bullying they saw in this clip.

Then, Pinterest Steal #1:

I gave each kiddie a piece of paper and asked them to draw a stick figure. We called ours Sam. Sam is new in school. He has had troubles making friends. I tell the kids that we think this is funny.

I ask them to tell Sam, "You're weird." They do that.
Tell him, "You're a geek."
Point and laugh at him.
Tell him, "You're so skinny and ugly."
Tell him, "Go away, you can't play with us."

Every time we say some, we scrunch up a corner of the paper until it is a ball. They also pinched, scratched, punched and threw the paper.

And they were actually having a good time doing this.

We stopped, unfolded and tried to smooth the paper out. A couple had rips on the side.

I told the group to notice how, despite trying to make Sam better, he was still in a bad state. I asked the class to say sorry to their Sam. I said that even though we said sorry to Sam and tried our hardest to get him back to normal, he had scars that would not heal. We have to think how our actions may leave scars on people.

As the pin says, "The looks on the faces of the children in the classroom told [me] the message hit home.

Click here to see pin.

To conclude the lesson, we reflected on what the Sam activity meant to us. One girl made a lovely comment - he was still smiling.

Pinterest Steal #2:
From A Teacher's Treasure!

Mor's Post It Parking Lot was something I knew I'd want to try out when I pinned it over three months ago.

Here's mine:

(I have to make a new one. Made this in a rush)

Kids choose to write about
1) Something I learned.

2) Something I did not understand.

3) A question.

Worked a treat. And best of all! I keep the post-its in my binder as proof of assessment! Great tool to see their thinking and how I may need to differentiate and improve my teaching.

Hope every one has recovered over this weekend and that you're ready for another week

xx