October is Respect, Bullying Prevention, and Personal Safety Month

Week of Respect:  September 29th - Oct 3rd  
Spirit days and activities will be held all week! A flyer about the spirit days was sent home on September 26th.

CCSD designates the first full week of October as the Week of Respect.  The purpose of the Week of Respect is to remind students (and the adults in their lives) that treating others the way we want to be treated is important!  Respect can also be demonstrated by showing consideration for other people's thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and rights.  

CCSD and the State of Nevada encourage schools to offer activities and learning opportunities that highlight the importance of safe, respectful learning environments. This allows our school to focus on community building and inclusion.  

According to Nevada law, the “Week of Respect” will focus on:

● Methods to prevent, identify, and report incidents of bullying and cyber-bullying;

● Methods to improve the school environment in a manner that will facilitate positive human relations among pupils and;

● Methods to facilitate positive human relations among pupils by eliminating bullying and cyberbullying.

The website stopbullying.gov has many resources on bullying prevention for parents, educators, and the community.

If you have any questions, please contact Mrs. King.                      702-799-3200, ext 4301 

Red Ribbon Week:  October 23rd - 29th
Spirit days and activities will be held all week! A flyer about the spirit days will be sent home no later than October 22nd.

Red Ribbon Week is designed to remind students that having positive habits, making healthy choices, and staying focused on their future goals can lead to a more successful and happier life.  It also teaches students about the dangers of drug and alcohol misuse and to make healthy and safe choices instead.  

Day 1:  Students learned about habits, how to choose healthy habits, and reflected on habits they have, want to continue doing, or change.
Day 2:  Students learned about peer pressure (positive and negative) and ways to avoid falling for negative peer pressure.
Days 3 and 4:  Students learned about the dangers of drugs and alcohol to their developing brains and nervous systems.  They also learned how medicine, which is a helpful drug, can also be dangerous if not used properly (right dose, time of day, and given by a doctor or parent).  They also learned about the dangers of misusing drugs.
Day 5:   Students wrapped up the week (and anti-bullying month) with reminders to make good choices for their health and future but also to think about how their choices impact others; being respectful to yourself and others is making good choices!  

October Class Lessons

All month, classes will participate in a developmentally appropriate lesson defining people involved in bullying, learn positive ways to stand up to bullying, and why speaking up is vital to help prevent mean behavior from becoming bullying.  Every class will view the short video titled "Be an Upstander - Prevent Bullying:  A NED Short" from The NED Shows, which highlights the various people involved in bullying and provides students with 4 ways to be an upstander.  

People Involved in Bully Behavior:

1. Target—The person being picked on in a mean way, either through actions, words, or both; they are the person being bullied.

2. Bully—The person being mean (through actions or words), on purpose, over and over, even after being told to stop. The person who is bullying is making poor choices and needs to learn and do better.

3. Bystander—A person who sees the mean/bullying behavior and either doesn't know how to stop it or is too scared to stop it.

4. Upstander—A person who sees the mean/bullying behavior and knows what to do and how to stop it.  

Four Ways to Be an Upstander:

1. Be a buddy—Be a friend to the target; people who bully pick on people who don't have many friends.

2. Interrupt—Help the target by giving them a reason to walk away from the person who is showing bullying behavior.

3. Speak out—Tell the person who is showing bullying behavior to "STOP"; this helps reinforce that bullying behavior is not welcome.

4. Tell someone—Tell a trusted adult about what is happening; this isn't to get someone in trouble, but rather to keep someone safe.

Kindergarten
Kindergarteners will read the story "One" by Kathryn Otoshi. This book uses colorful blobs to represent people and how mean behavior can get out of hand if we don't stand up to it. This story gives students hope because they realize it only takes ONE person (them) to help prevent mean/bullying behavior. Our lesson also provides students with several strategies to avoid being a target of bullying.  

1st Grade and 2nd Graders
This month, 1st and 2nd Graders will read "What if Everybody Did That?" by Ellen Javernick.  This book highlights the different ways a young boy makes choices and the consequences of his choices.  We discuss the difference between expected and unexpected behaviors, and students problem-solve different ways the boy could make better choices.  For their activity, students analyze different scenarios that occur here at school and sort them into expected and unexpected choices.  

3rd Grade
In our first lesson, 3rd Graders also do the same lesson as 1st and 2nd graders.  In our second lesson, we further discuss responsibility through the concepts of choice and consequence.  We will watch a Kid President video about making choices and how being thoughtful can lead to better outcomes.  Students complete an activity in which they are given choices and must come up with possible consequences, or given consequences, they must think about the possible choices that led to that outcome.  

UPDATE: Students realized there is often not one 'right' or 'wrong' answer when it comes to reasons for choices or consequences.  This was challenging for them, in a good way!

4th Grade
This month, 4th Graders will continue the "Weird!", "Dare!", and "Tough!" book series.  This series focuses on three perspectives related to mean behavior and bullying: the target, the bystander, and the bully.  

The second book, "Dare!", is from the bystander's point of view. We will read it and discuss the different aspects students notice and feel along the way.  Then, students will complete an activity identifying what they can do if they are bystanders of bullying (and become upstanders).  We will read the final book in mid-November.  

The third book, "Tough!", is from the bully's point of view. We will read it and discuss what students notice, the main character's experiences, why she behaves the way she does, and what she realizes about the consequences of her behavior.  This helps develop students' empathy and perspective and reinforces that we don't know what others are going through just by looking at them.  

Then, students will learn about anger cues, our body's ways of telling us we are angry.  Some cues are feeling hot, "red," fists clenched, heart racing, or high energy coursing through their muscles.  Some might even get headaches or stomachaches.  In other words, if students recognize how anger feels in their bodies, the more they will be able to control their reactions and express themselves appropriately.  We reinforce that there are no wrong feelings, but actions and words have consequences, good or bad.  Students are taught, "If you can name it, you can tame it"!  (In other words, if they can tell they're getting angry, they can control it before it gets them in trouble.)  Students then complete an activity identifying ways to prevent bullying and some ideas to avoid becoming a target.  

5th Grade
This month, the 5th grade will continue learning about bullying prevention.  Last month, we focused on cyber safety.  This month, we will learn the four terms defined at the top, different types of bullying behavior, and how to be upstanders in school, at home, and in the community.  Students will also learn about Relational Aggression, which is using friendships to hurt others, and how this can sometimes be used as bullying behavior.  In each lesson, students learn how to avoid being the target, how to avoid being a bystander, what to do if they are the ones being mean (or possibly bullying), and how to have the courage to be an upstander instead.  A significant theme in our lessons is "if you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem," because each lesson focuses on positive peer pressure and finding ways to de-escalate conflict.