GETTING STARTED

Use breathing, mindfulness or brain break activities to empower children to increase resilience, focus, and calmness as you get started with the lesson.

Brain Break – Action Songs for Children – Shake and Freeze - 4 minutes in length

Shake and Freeze - Learning Station

This is a great brain break song for children. When children take a moment to sing, dance, move, and even laugh then they can return to their academics feeling happy, energized and renewed. This brain break, action song is perfect for the preschool, kindergarten and elementary children.

GUIDED PRACTICE

After reading the story, talk about how showing kindness and caring makes others feel special and can make you feel good, too.

In what ways was Z nice to the other kids?

He invited them up to play, cleaned off the table to make room to paint, he made them a picture of something they liked.

How did that make Z feel?

He was happy, having a good day.

Have you ever done something for someone else that made you feel good?

Have students share as time allows.

Has someone done something nice for you, how did that make you feel?

If possible, share a time someone did something nice for you.

The story selection, The Very Good Day, is only a suggestion.

Here’s a recorded story you could share:

Be Kind: When a young girl named Tanisha spills grape juice all over her new dress, her classmate wants to make her feel better and remembers that Mom always says, “Be kind.” But what does it mean to be kind?

There are an abundance of good stories that talk about kindness and caring for others. Check the supplemental resources for additional suggestions.

EXTENDING THE LESSON

Caring Catchers

Encourage each child or the class to “catch” one another being kind and caring over the course of a week. Have each child keep a journal of the kind things that they have done or have seen others do or say or say to them. Be sure to allow time to share the kind acts that were noticed.

Write or draw pictures of some of these caring acts on paper cutouts and create a visual display. A display could be paper petals forming flowers in a garden. Talk about how these kind acts benefit one another.

"Feel Good" Signs

Make a "Feel Good" Sign that shares a positive message, drawing or message in your window, yard, or classroom.

What If We Could

This activity comes from the Sanford Harmony curriculum, Grades 1 & 2, Unit 5.1- Caring for Others, Supplemental Activities.

Brainstorm idea(s) using the prompts below. Students can work as a class, in small groups or individually. Encourage them to explain how their ideas would benefit others.

What Would You Do If…….

• You had $1,000 to do something caring for others?

• You had a week off school to do something that showed caring for others?

• You could change a school rule or create a new rule that was fair and would help others?

WRAP IT UP

Finish the lesson by having students consider the following:

Why can doing something kind for someone else make you feel good?

I see that what I did made them happy; I know that I helped someone.

How might feeling happy help you treat other people kindly?

It’s easier to pay attention to others.

I might not get annoyed or upset as easily.

Happiness and kindness can be contagious/ it’s helps others be kind.

What are some ways that you could change someone’s day for the better?

Say something kind to them.

Ask how they feel and listen to what they say.

Invite them to talk or play a game.

Do something unexpectedly nice for them.

GETTING STARTED

Use breathing, mindfulness or brain break activities to empower children to increase resilience, focus, and calmness as you get started with the lesson.

Mind Yeti is a collection of mindfulness sessions that can be played anytime you feel your class needs to take a break, settle down, and focus, and can be used to proactively build mindfulness skills.

Try Mind Yeti-Hello Breath: Listen 3:32 minutes

DISCUSSION

Begin the lesson by asking students to clap their hands if they have ever been left out of something?

Acknowledge that being left our hurts. So we want to try to be kind and include other as often as we can.

Play a game from Sanford Harmony – Being Welcoming & Inclusive- Grades 1 & 2 Unit 5.2 that will help students consider the perspective of someone who is excluded.

Have student walk around the room. To begin the game, call out a number. Start the first round by calling out the number 10. Students form groups of 10, putting their hands together in the middle to indicate they are in that circle. All students without a group should sit down.

Continue playing rounds (with only the standing students continuing to play).

When just a few students are left in the game, call out a number larger than the remaining students in order to exclude them, as well.

GUIDED PRACTICE

How did it feel when you were excluded?

How did it feel when others were excluded?

We have probably all felt that way at some time. Probably felt bad, sad, maybe even angry.

Have you ever left someone out?

You might not have even thought about asking someone to join something. You may not have realized that they would be interested and now they seem upset.

Have you ever upset someone without meaning to?

Chances are that we all have, even me. You can’t always guess what someone is thinking but you can find ways to help everyone feel included.

What can you do to show acceptance, welcoming, or inclusiveness toward someone?

Examples include asking instead of guessing what someone would like to do or not do, working in a larger group, inviting a new person to sit with you at lunch.

What are other examples that you can think of?

Would this be a fair alternative for everyone?

EXTENDING THE LESSON

Inclusion Activity- Sanford Harmony

Use the Inclusion Scenario Cards found at www.sanfordharmony.org, Grades 1 & 2, Unit 5.2, Appendix 5.2 to practice finding solutions and ways for including others. Read the cards and discuss as a class. Or you can cut out the cards and distribute one or two to a buddy pair.

WRAP IT UP

Discuss the activity:

Why is it important to think of ways you could try to include others or find another fair way to play?

Everyone deserves to be treated fairly and kindly; I can think of ways to do things differently; he or she will know that I care enough to be inclusive.

What can you do if you see or hear someone excluding a student?

Remind them that it hurts to feel left out. Help think of ways to play together. Offer to play with the excluded person.

Inclusion Activity- Sanford Harmony

Use the Inclusion Scenario Cards found at sanfordharmony.org, Grades 1 & 2, Unit 5.2, Appendix 5.2 to practice finding solutions and ways for including others. Read the cards and discuss as a class. Or you can cut out the cards and distribute one or two to a buddy pair.

Access the worksheet here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/17R4-C4lV-DXmXNUKd-PD0ngqIYFgBdy5/view?usp=sharing

Opposite Musical Chair

This activity comes from Sanford Harmony, Grades 1 & 2, Unit 5.1, Supplemental Activities

This is similar to Musical Chairs, but no one gets excluded.

Using a circle or square of chairs that is equal to the number of students, play music and have the students march around the chairs until the music stops, at which time they are each to sit on a chair.

Have them stand again, remove one chair, and repeat the process. Unlike the standard musical chairs game, however, no one is excluded. Students will need to figure out creative ways to share chairs as the number of chairs decreases. Continue in this manner for as long as possible.

Ask the following questions

Would you have been upset if you had gotten “out”?

How did it feel to keep everyone in the game as long as possible?

Do you think you can learn how to include others when it may not be the easiest thing to do?

BRAIN BREAKS, BREATHING, MINDFULNESS

Student Activities to Promote Diversity, Inclusion and Empathy

Follow the instructions for this activity as a way to teach inclusion and empathy.

Direction: Split the class into 6 groups. Gives students a task as a group and then gives each group different limitations such as their directions in Spanish or Braille, do your work with your eyes closed, etc. After a few minutes the group with no limitations will be finished. Provide enthusiastic applause for that group. Continue to shower that group with praise. Before long, someone will speak up about how unfair it was for them to have no limitations, which is exactly the point.

At this point you will want to ask these questions:

Why can we not confirm the winning group was not, in fact, the best?

How did you feel during this activity?

How might someone feel who has one of these limitations?

What can we learn from this activity?

The Penguin Song- 1.27 minutes

Sing and move along to this silly camp song about penguins drinking tea!

https://family.gonoodle.com/activities/the-penguin-song

SUPPLEMENTAL RESOURCES

Raising an Inclusive Child

This is an article on 4 strategies to raise an inclusive child.

https://www.brighthorizons.com/family-resources/how-to-raise-inclusive-child

GETTING STARTED

Use breathing, mindfulness or brain break activities to empower children to increase resilience, focus, and calmness as you get started with the lesson.

Mind Yeti – The New Kid Listens - Kindness

Get your mind ready for this listening activity. Using Mind Yeti can help kids settle down and focus. Time 4:15 minutes

DISCUSSION

Today we are going to talk about what makes a friend. Continue by talking with your students about what you look for in a friend.

When I’m looking for a friend, I like someone who is funny and makes me laugh.

What is important to me may not be important to you.

Ask students what they look for when making friends?

Friends are important throughout our lives. Think about a person that you would say is a good friend.

• Are you alike in some ways?

• Different in some ways?

• Can you imagine what the world would be like if we were the same?

It’s fun to have friends who are both similar and different from us.

You will probably not agree on everything with your friends and that is okay. We can discuss and overcome most differences (unless, of course, someone is trying to get you to do something you know will hurt you, make you feel bad about yourself, or get you in trouble.)

Use the Friendship Strip activity from www.sanfordharmony.org , Grades 5 & 6, Unit 5.1, Appendix 5.1 to continue thinking about qualities you want in friends.

Give each student two Friendship Strips (one of each type) to fill out. On one strip, have the students finish the sentence, “I like friends who are…”

On the other strip, have the students fill in the blank in the sentence, “I like to ______ with my friends.”

Remind students that there are no right or wrong answers and encourage them to write response that reflects how they honestly think and feel about friendships. If students are having trouble thinking of ideas, offer suggestions.

When students have recorded their responses, collect the slips of paper and shuffle them. Explain that you will read aloud the Friendship Strips one at a time.

Students will agree or disagree with the statements. This could also be done with a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle. Or students could stand side by side and move forward if they agree and move back if they don’t agree. If they agree only a little, they do not move.

Practice by using these two examples:

I like friends who are nice.

I like to swim with my friends.

Begin reading aloud the students’ responses one at a time. Take advantage of “teachable moments.” Share your observations with students and ask them to make their own. For example: Wow, it looks like all of you like friends who are funny. Look at Addy with two thumbs down… you really don’t like playing video games with your friends, do you?

Take a look around. What do you see? Can someone make an observation?

GUIDED PRACTICE

Use the Friendship Pledge Activity, adapted from the Sanford Harmony Curriculum, Grade 4, Unit 5.2, to help students decide on 3 important characteristics they pledge to bring to their friendships. The worksheet can be downloaded here:

Hand each person a Friendship Pledge Certificate. Have each student decide on three characteristics to write on their certificate. Explain that by writing these characteristics or behaviors on their certificate, they are taking a pledge to treat their friends this way.

When finished writing their Friendship Pledges, have students read them aloud in their small group or, if time permits, to the entire class.

EXTENDING THE LESSON

Use this opportunity to further the lesson by talking about problems that can arise when we stereotype individuals, especially if you noticed that only boys or girls seem to stand close to the line for certain characteristics or activities.

Encourage students to consider the social factors that contribute to gender differences. Ask why it seems that only boys are standing to the right of the line when asked about playing football with their friends. Or only boys have a thumbs up when talking about football. People tend to think football is for boys, so girls might feel funny or discouraged from playing football, even if they want to play.

Discuss why it is problematic if we think that only certain characteristics or activities are true of girls or boys.

We might assume that some people don’t like certain activities—when they actually do—and don’t invite them to join us.

Sometimes we won’t try to make friends with other-gender peers because we assume boys and girls don’t have things in common. Or some might worry that they will get teased.

Discuss how stereotypes may have affected us because we are noticing that girls and boys tend to choose certain activities or characteristics in this classroom.

WRAP IT UP

Ask the following questions to summarize key concepts from the lesson.

• Did we agree, as a group, about what activities are most fun to do with friends?

• Are there some personal characteristics that most of us like our friends to have?

• Are there some activities that we all agreed are fun to do with friends?

• Did you and your friends agree on every single statement?

End the lesson by reminding students of the importance of friendships and the qualities they look for in their friends.

It’s a good thing that we’re not all exactly the same and that we bring different characteristics to our relationships.

GETTING STARTED

Use breathing, mindfulness or brain break activities to empower children to increase resilience, focus, and calmness as you get started with the lesson.

Brain Breaks – Gotcha Brain Break – Grades 3-6 Video

• Try to grab another person’s finger on one side of you, while at the same time avoid being grabbed by the person on the other side of you.

• Stand up and get into groups of 3-10 people. Form a circle with your group.

• Each person should hold out their left hand with their palm flat and facing up. Now take your right hand index finger and point it directly into the palm of the person to your right.

When the instructor says “Gotcha,” you are to try and grab the person’s finger that is in your palm, at the same time avoid being grabbed by the person you are pointing to.

Play several times. If time allows, let students try it with arms crossed.

DISCUSSION

Begin the lesson by talking with student about how negative peer interactions can occur even in a positive, supportive classroom. Tell students that today’s lesson will focus on bullying.

Have students raise their hands if they or anyone they know have been bullied in the classroom, in the lunchroom, or on the playground.

Summarize students responses making sure to mention that it appears that students think bullying is something that occurs in our school and maybe even in their classroom.

Ask students to come up with a definition of bullying.

What would you say bullying is?

Why does it happen?

How would it make someone feel if they were targeted by a bully?

What can each of us do to make sure bullying doesn’t happen?

A definition that can be used to describe a bully is someone who physically, verbally, or socially abuses a peer; a bully intends to harm that person and does so repeatedly over time.

GUIDED PRACTICE

Explain to students that they in their group, they will practice determining if a situation and the action that follows is a positive or negative behavior. Students will be working in groups or in buddy pairs.

Use the Teacher Reference Guide to assist with the discussion.

Situation 1

Brandon and T.J., both fifth graders, are neighbors and have been best friends since they can remember. Brandon wants to start hanging out with some of the popular kids in school who sometimes tease T.J. Brandon decides to tease T.J. too in hopes that the popular kids will want to be friends.

Is this bullying? What are the behaviors that make it “bullying’?

The “popular” kids are bullies because they “sometimes” tease T.J. meaning it probably happens often.

Would you say that Brandon is a bully?

With the information we are given it is hard to know if this happens more than once. Sometimes people are mean one time and aren’t in the future.

Can a friend also be a bully?

Yes, if he is treating him differently when certain people are around it could be bullying, even though he is nice at other times.

Situation 2

On the way to lunch, Benjamin pushes Tommy into the girls’ bathroom and, in earshot of several kids, remarks, “Need to use the girls’ room, Tommy?” Benjamin has been taunting Tommy a lot recently, maybe because Tommy hangs out with the girls in the class more often than the boys.

Is this considered bullying?

Yes, Benjamin has been taunting Tommy a lot.

Why are they taunting Tommy?

He has been hanging out with the girls more than the boys.

Is it okay that they treat him this way?

No everyone deserved to be treated with respect.

Continue a discussion using the situations from the Battle of the Bullies.

What could be consequences experienced by the bullies?

• A friend gets mad.

• He/she gets yelled at by the person being bullied.

• Another student steps in and intervenes.

What were some of the effective ways that someone could respond if they were being bullied?

• He/She could talk to the bully and ask them to stop.

• They could provide a comeback.

• They could just ignore the bully.

What were some of the ineffective ways someone could respond if they were being bullied?

• Fighting, being aggressive, getting upset, crying

What are effective ways other students (bystanders) could respond when they see someone being bullied?

• They could speak up for the person being bullied.

• They could inviting him or her to hang out with them

• They could try to stop the bullying or confront the bully.

• Create a distraction, so it would stop.

• Tell the teacher.

What are some responses that would not be effective in responding to someone being bullied?

• Ignore the bullying.

• Join in.

• Support the bully by laughing at the person being bullied.

• Give the bully encouragement, like a high-five.

WRAP IT UP

Encourage students to use the strategies they learned to respond to bullying situations.

What can each of you do in the classroom to decrease, or even eliminate, bullying?

EXTENDING THE LESSON

Introduce the Battle the Bullies Game from www.sanfordharmony.org, Grades 5 & 6, Unit 5.4, Activity – Battle of the Bullies.

Battle the Bullies Cards

Battle the Bullies Game Board

Appendix 5.4-Teacher Reference Guide

Directions for Playing the Game.

In this game, tams will race to the finish while considering effective and ineffective ways to deal with bullying and the consequences of each.

• Begin by putting students into diverse groups of no more than 6 students. There are 6 different decks of cards.

• Place each color-coded Action Cards face down in a pile next to the board with its corresponding Battle Card on top.

• Each team selects a game piece, places it on the starting space. Each team will roll the dice. The team with the highest score will go first.

Team 1 picks a Battle Card and matching Action Card and reads the Battle Card out loud.

Team 2 picks an Action Card from the same deck and reads it out loud.

• All team members must decide together whether the Action is positive or negative.

• If positive, the team rolls the dice to determine how many spaces to move forward.

• If the action is negative, the team rolls the dice to determine how many spaces to move backward.

• The game continue until all teams have drawn as action Card from the first deck.

Then Team 2 picks up the Battle Card and the process is repeated. Each team will take a turn reading a Battle Card.

Team that reaches or is closes to the finish wins the game.

Peer support survey - Grade 5 dashboard lesson 5.2

This survey asks students to rate the helpfulness of classmates in their own experience during difficult experiences. You would then mix the surveys up and hand them back to anonymously discuss the results. Does everyone feel supported in the classroom? If not, what could we do differently to support everyone?

Brain Breaks, Breathing, Mindfulness

Be Kind To Yourself – Empower Tools- GoNoodle – 4:40 minutes

May you be happy, May I be happy, healthy, safe and filled with joy statements with focused breathing.

When Friendship Hurts

This is a teacher’s guide to helping friendships and guiding the conversation when feelings are hurt.

Resources on the Web

National Bullying Prevention Center

Pacer is the national bully prevention site with resources on statistics, facts and FAQ.

Prevention: Teach kids how to identify bullying and how to stand up to it safely.

Parents, school staff, and other adults in the community can help kids prevent bullying by talking about it, building a safe school environment, and creating a community-wide bullying prevention strategy.

Safe Schools Help Line- 1-866-723-3982

Part of the Governors safe school helpline, information on when and how to report as well as what to expect when you call to report bullying.

WV Department of Education - Tips to Decrease Bullying Behavior