Hello all,
For those who don't already know- this week is Safe Schools Week and today is National Unity Day.
Unity Day was created as a way to acknowledge and address bullying and violence in schools, and we wear the color orange to celebrate! It takes every individual within a school to create and maintain a culture of kindness, positivity, and safety. Safe Schools Week buddies up with both Bully Prevention Month (all of October) and Red Ribbon Week (the last week of October), and altogether the three represent and highlight ways that kids can take care of themselves, as well as each other.
Our elementary and junior high students have been learning about how to recognize bullying, how to manage being bullied or being a bystander, as well as ways to promote positive relationships and embrace opportunities for taking action against bullying behavior.
Over the last week, our elementary kiddos have worked individually to create their own unity "leaf", and through the end of the week I will be working to add those "leaves" to each building's "unity tree".
The junior high kiddos have spent their last week talking about the differences between "rude", "mean", "conflict", and "bullying", and what to do when they find themselves (or see someone else) in a bullying situation.
This week, the junior high students have been tasked with developing examples of the four types of situations (rude, mean, etc.) and are being asked to record themselves role playing those scenarios. The role play videos will then be used for the elementary lessons, so that our littles can learn the differences and practice recognizing bullying in real life.
Finally, in celebration of Unity Day, I have cut orange strips for all pre-k - 8th grade students to use in making Unity wristbands. Students will all be given a blank strip, so that they can make their own and a picture of different examples is attached. MHES have all received their bands, and AES students will all have theirs by the end of their lunches today.
Best, Mrs. Jordan Dunn