The third graders crumpled their papers with glee! Most squeezed them into balls, one even pressed his balled-up paper under a textbook. When Increase Miller Elementary’s School Social Worker Kiri Ryan asked them to make the paper flat again, it was impossible to smooth out the wrinkles.
That was just the point.
“Before you speak, think and be smart; it’s hard to fix a wrinkled heart,” was printed on the paper, inside of a heart.
The crumped heart drove home Ryan’s lesson. She was leading age-appropriate conversations promoting kindness, acceptance and inclusion with each class throughout October, which is Bullying Prevention Month.
Third through fifth graders used their read-aloud skills and flexed their ability to have a thoughtful all-class conversation about what bullying was and what they could do when it happened.
“Bullying is when someone uses their power to hurt or upset someone again and again,” read one student.
Ryan emphasized that bullying is purposeful, repeated behavior. “We all make mistakes,” she said.
She asked the students what they could do if they hurt someone’s feelings.
“You can apologize,” several students said. “You can do better.”
For younger students, Ryan used a read-aloud of the book “One,” by Kathryn Otoshi, to open a conversation on what happens when we stand up for others.
Ryan asked the class what they could do if they saw someone being left out or being put down.
Students’ suggestions including telling an adult about the situation and calming a sad person by showing them they care. “You can invite them to play with you,” said one student.
They closed the lesson by coloring the number one: “It takes just one to be an upstander!”
Before Ryan left each class, she reminded the students to share what they learned at home, in order to learn even more.
