  Now that it’s September, the school year has officially begun and Bullying Prevention Month is just around the corner! While all teachers know bullying prevention is important, many feel overwhelmed with the logistics of putting together and making time for a separate program. However, bullying prevention doesn’t have to be a huge production. In fact, it’s probably better if it’s not. When social skills are worked into the lessons already being taught, students are able to see that bullying prevention isn’t an activity done a couple times a year; it is a lifestyle and important enough to be included into everyday routines. That is why we decided to create a month-long blog series all about easy ways to integrate bullying prevention into classroom activities you’re already doing. Each week of September, we will focus on a different area of the classroom and discuss lessons, activities, and books you can use to teach kids about bullying, kindness, and empathy while they also learn about science, math, and history.  Today we’re kicking things off with everyone’s favorite subject: Math. Math can be tricky under the best circumstances, so integrating a topic as complex as bullying education may seem impossible. However, with a little creativity, both subjects can work hand in hand to improve interest and understanding. Below are listed some core math skills and a few kindness and bullying activities to go along with them. The majority can be scaled up or down depending on the age and skill level of your students. Let us know if you try any of these activities in your classroom!
Two of a Kind: Each student is given a shape to tape to their shirt. They must then locate the other student in the room with their same shape. Once they find their match, they sit down together. Go around the class and ask the students to identify their shape and say one kind thing about their shape buddy. For older students, have them count the sides and/or angles to the shape and then list the corresponding number of kind words for their partner. This activity can be adapted to practice a number of other skills, such as identifying similar and congruent shapes, matching angles (one person has the word “acute” while someone else has a picture of an acute angle), or matching ratios to fractions. Counting and Number Recognition Kindness Jars: This is a twist on The Compliments Project, an incredible project of encouragement developed by a middle school teacher in New York. Begin by filling a jar with beads. The number will depend on the skill level of your students. Once a week (or more if you have the time), choose a student to be the student of honor. As a class, count the beads in the jar and have a student draw the number on the board.  Next, challenge students to write that number of kind things about the student of honor. Finally, bundle up the notes for the student to read later! For students still mastering writing, have them raise their hands and say the compliments out loud while you write them down for the student of honor. Another option is to have your students think of a corresponding number of random acts of kindness to do as a class that week.
Addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division A Message of Kindness: This is a fun idea adapted from a lesson created by the Oklahoma State Department of Education. Students must solve equations to read messages that review bullying prevention facts. The skill level of the students will determine the equations used.  Worksheet from http://sde.ok.gov/sde/sites/ok.gov.sde/files/say-goodbye-to-bullies.pdf This activity can also be adapted to encourage kindness and build up student confidence. As the instructor, create an encouraging message for each student to decode. To take it a step further, challenge your students to do the same for one another. Give them a key and assign partners. Each student must then create an encouraging note for their partner using the code and building equations the partner must solve to read the message. Fractions and Ratios Fractions and ratios can seem abstract. Providing visual aids and real-world examples can help make these concepts more concrete. As a class, gather and report statistics on bullying. Then, use your class to help them visualize the results. For example, if 1 in 4 students are bullied, how many students in your classroom does that represent? *Also see “Two of a Kind” activity above* Charts and Graphing Students can practice making charts and graphs using the information just gathered. They can also create diagrams on what type of people are bullied, who bullies, and how bullying has changed throughout the years.
*** These activities do not cover each and every math skill, but I hope they gave you some new ideas and inspired you to begin searching for ways to integrate bullying prevention into your own classroom. Stick with us through the rest of September to learn even more fun and easy ways to bring a little more kindness into each day!
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Using This is A. Blob to Discuss Social Interactions  I have written before on the often overlooked benefits of using picture books as educational tools among all ages. While many have a tendency to write picture books off as simple entertainment for the very young, studies have shown that picture books can be powerful tools for teaching, even at the high school level (read some of the studies here, here, and here). ”To me, it’s an easy access point,” stated Brianna Crowley, a Pennsylvania high school teacher, in an article for The School Library Journal. “To them, it’s going to feel so accessible, but as a professional I’m going to know how to question to help them go deeper.” This fact was driven home last week as I shared the picture book, This is A. Blob, by L.A. Kefalos, with over 300 elementary students, ranging from Kindergarten through 5th grade. The younger students were immediately captivated by the cover illustration and excited to read the story. The 5th graders, on the other hand, immediately gave the book a wary eye. This was a picture book. Hadn’t they outgrown those years ago? If I’m being honest, this was my initial thought, as well. This is A. Blob is a fantastic book, but would 5th grade students be able to see past its illustrations and minimal language to appreciate the important message it communicated? It turns out, we were both surprised.
As soon as the book was opened, every student was drawn to the vibrant illustrations of Yuri Fialko. Even the older students were intrigued by the funny looking A. Blob on the cover and cringed at the sticky trail of purple slime it oozed over the other characters in the book. Captivated by the illustrations, the students were more open to the message of the story. This nonthreatening quality is part of what makes picture books key tools for introducing difficult topics. Prior to reading the book, the students were asked to make some predictions on the personality of the main character, A. Blob, and I could tell that they were curious to see if their predictions were correct. I mentioned This is A. Blob was written, in part, because the author saw people around her not treating one another well and that she wanted to help people understand the consequences of unkindness. I never used the term “bully” or told them much more about the story. Had I said we were going to read a book about bullying, I may have received some eye rolls or a barrage of stories and comments. The students, having been told not to bully so many times before, may have shut down. Instead, they lit up with curiosity when they saw a picture book with an interesting name and a unique looking character. Their walls were down and they wanted to hear what the author had to say.  Image from This is A. Blob, by L.A. Kefalos The critical thinking prompted by the interplay of the illustrations and text in picture books is simply unmatched by any other medium; a fact which came through in my interactions with the students. There is one page in This is A. Blob that has just two short sentences: “This is A. Blob. A lonely purple gob.” With the opposite page showing a close-up of one of A. Blob’s eyes; a single tear streaming down its face. Even the most outspoken students were silent. This was a side of the character they had not expected. There were few words, but that one tear spoke volumes. You could see the wheels turning in their heads. One student said he understood how A. Blob felt because he had moved schools last year and knew what it was like to feel left out. To him, This is A. Blob was a story about being different. Another student said her sister had been mean to her, like A. Blob, but she was nice to her sister and her sister started being nice to her. To this girl, the story was about the power of kindness. A kindergarten student said maybe A. Blob was mean because it didn’t like being purple. To her, this was a book about self-acceptance. That’s the great thing about picture books. Their simplicity leaves so much open for interpretation. Over the course of 4 days, I spoke with over 300 students and the responses I received ranged far and wide. Because the story was simple, the students could insert their own experiences and interpretations. As a result of reading this short picture book, 300 students as young as 5 all the way up to 10, opened up to discuss empathy, the causes and consequences of bullying, how to deal with differences, self acceptance, problem solving, and other critical subjects. So, were we reading a picture book? Yes. However, by the end of our discussion, none of the students were focused on the fact that we were talking about a picture book anymore. They were talking about real life problems and how to solve them. Have you ever used picture books to open the discussion on a difficult subject? Have you read picture books to older students? Share your experiences in the comments below! Check back here next week to read Part II of this school visit blog where I discuss how we made our own A. Blob slime and talked about the stickiness of words.
The writer visited two elementary schools with the picture book This is A. Blob, by L.A. Kefalos. To learn more about the author, visit her author page, or follow her on Facebook!  This is A. Blob is a masterfully illustrated picture book suitable for children ages 4-8. Written by Lori Kefalos, author of several award-nominated animated shorts, This is A. Blob is the first of a series following this bully. This first installment follows the antics of A. Blob, a slimy, purple, blob-like creature who wreaks havoc on the elementary school playground with its bullying ways. As the story progresses, however, readers learn that there might be more to A. Blob than meets the eye. Along with its powerful illustrations and rhymed verse for early readers, this story invites children to put themselves in the shoes of another. The book demonstrates that a bully can come in any shape, size, or color and encourages readers to consider why bullies behave the way they do – and start to consider what can be done to help.
 “Do something now that will make the person you are tomorrow proud to be the person you are today” Have you ever looked back on a situation and been embarrassed by the way you reacted? Perhaps you were hurt or angry or caught off guard by something someone said or did. Whatever the reason, in the heat of the moment, you responded in a way that ended up hurting you and possibly others. I know I have found myself in this situation on more than one occasion. The truth is, when emotions run high and things happen unexpectedly, it can be difficult to remember to act with kindness and empathy.  In school, and even at work, we practice and prepare for emergency situations such as fires and tornadoes. Each month we rehearse exactly what we will hear, see, and smell, learning the best way to move and act in order to keep ourselves and others calm and safe. As a result, by the end of the school year, even a kindergartner is able to calmly line up and exit the building without panic when she hears the fire alarm sound. She has heard it before and knows just what to do. Unfortunately, the same sort of regular drilling is not in place for social scenarios such as bullying. Children are taught that bullying is wrong and are even given guidelines as to what they should say and do. However, as we have all experienced, real life situations do not always go as expected. People can be caught off guard, emotions can take over, and when everything is said and done, everyone has acted in a way they wish they hadn’t. So, how can we “drill” for bullying? The same way we drill for other harmful scenarios. Below, I have taken steps from the Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA), as well as from several mom bloggers, including The Survival Mom, who specializes in emergency prep for kids, and tailored them to help prepare children for bullying scenarios. Here are a few basic steps to begin creating your Bullying Preparedness Plan: Step 1. EducationFew things are as frightening as the unknown. When we don’t expect or understand something, our imaginations can go wild, causing our fear to build and build. The best way to combat fear is through education. The more we know and understand something, including bullying, the less scary it becomes. This first step includes education on several different subjects:
Bullying can take many different forms from cyber bullying, to exclusion, to verbal abuse, to physical harm. It’s important that students are able to recognize the subtleties of bullying and identify the differences between bullying and teasing. Stopbullying.gov offers some helpful definitions and examples of different types of bullying and how to identify them.
It’s equally important to address the frightening things children will come across in bullying scenarios, such as being bullied themselves if they speak up, being physically hurt, being embarrassed, freezing up, or being ostracized. Have an open discussion with your students about their fears; you may be surprised at what’s going on in their heads. Let them know that these are valid fears, but they can learn practices that will make these situations not so scary. Be sure to discuss all the different sides of bullying: being the bully, getting bullied, and being a bystander. It’s important that children learn about the causes of each of these positions and what to do if they find themselves in any one of these three roles. Blogger, Glennon, of the blog Momastery.com, talked about how easy it is to freeze up and say the wrong thing in a difficult situation, especially when we fear embarrassment. Together with her son, she created some ready-made responses to tricky social situations that matched up with his personality. No kid wants to say something that sounds like it came out of teacher’s handbook. Help your students come up with responses to various bullying scenarios that sound natural and work with their personalities so that they’ll feel comfortable using them when the time comes.  Photo by Shelly Shott Finally, discuss with your students what measures are already in place to keep them safe. It’s important they know that, while it’s important to know about and be prepared for bullying, there are processes and people already working hard every day to make sure that bullying never happens in the first place. Be sure to let them know they are not alone and that teachers are always looking out for their health and safety. The goal of education is to remove as much fear as possible to keep kids safe and happy—not to create fear or panic. Step 2. Guided PracticeNow that your students have been told what to do in a bullying scenario, it’s important that they actually practice doing it. Professionals say students should know the sound of the fire alarm and how to respond instinctively, wherever they are in the building, even if they are alone. They recommend visiting other parts of the school and practicing what to do if they are at these locations when the alarm sounds.  Similarly, when practicing bullying scenarios, be sure to practice in several different locations using several different scenarios and responses. Practice situations where there is a big group of kids, situations that are one on one, situations where the people involved are friends, and some where they are strangers. This is the time to talk the students through what is happening and how to respond. Let them try on their own, encourage what they’re doing right, and correct what they are doing wrong. Step 3. Surprise PracticePanic can easily and quickly set in when we are surprised. It’s important that children learn what it feels like to be frightened and embarrassed and all the other feelings that can arise in a bullying scenario so they learn how to work through those feelings and do the right thing. When I was in elementary school, my heart would beat wildly and my legs would shake with fear every time the fire alarm sounded. While I knew fire drills occurred regularly, when one came there was always the thought “it might be real this time!” However, over the course of many drills, I learned how to calm myself down. I learned that even if the emergency was real, I had practiced for it and I knew how to stay safe, whether I was in the classroom, the cafeteria, or even alone in the bathroom. I wouldn’t have learned how to do this without the element of surprise. Every now and then, throw a bullying scenario into what you’re already doing. If the class is working math problems at the board, role play what would happen if one student got the answer wrong and some other students started mocking him for it.. What if the bullying continued at recess? What if the teacher left the room and that’s when the bullying started? What would they do? Why do they think the bully called out the student for getting the answer wrong? Put yourself in different roles and let the students explore what they would say and do when placed in different positions. Try not to interfere other than playing your role and see how your students react on their own.  In their emergency preparedness guide, FEMA emphasizes the importance of making sure your child always knows at least two ways out of the house in case one escape route is blocked. The same can be applied to a bullying scenario. It’s very possible that one method of confronting bullying will not work, so it’s important to prepare children for this possibility. Things rarely go according to plan and it’s vital that kids practice what it feels like to be caught off guard or to try something and have it not work. This drill doesn’t need to take much time. Some fire drills are as short as 5 minutes. Practice and repetition are what count. Step 4. ReviewThe final step is review. After each drill, it’s important to have an open discussion about what occurred. What did the students feel they did well? What could they have done better? What kind of thoughts and emotions went though their head? *** Will these drills take time? Yes. Will they be worth it? Absolutely. We spend so much time preparing our children for emergencies, but we fail to prepare them for the social interactions that they will face far more often. The reality is that social issues, such as bullying, drugs, and alcohol are responsible for many more deaths each year than any natural disaster and our kids will face them far more often. Let’s make sure they’re prepared. Would you try bullying drills in your home or classroom? What other ways have you prepared your children to face bullying? Let us know in the comments.
  Have you ever stumbled across a song or a poem that perfectly captures your inner thoughts and feelings? Though sometimes viewed as a lesser genre, poetry has an incredible ability to take the most profound truths and put them simply in a way that makes sense. The rhythm and verse have a way of gently speaking to our souls and revealing things we were never able to see before. I recently came across a poem that beautifully portrayed a unique way of dealing with bullying. The poem is Edwin Markham’s “Outwitted”: “He drew a circle that shut me out, Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout. But Love and I had the wit to win. We drew a circle that took him in.”
Though short and simple, “Outwitted” has undertones and intricacies beneath its surface that make it an excellent choice for opening up conversations on dealing with bullies. First, the poem is empowering. Rather than encouraging children to ignore those who are hurting them, the speaker takes action, and that action changes things. The one being mocked takes control of the situation, not by fighting back, but by refusing to engage in war at all. Children are often told that it takes two to fight; that if they ignore the bully, the bully will get tired and ignore them too. While this is one version of “not engaging in war”, for those children being pushed down, embarrassed, and tormented every day, waiting the situation out may not seem like a bearable solution. In the poem, however, we are shown a different way of staying out of battle. Yes, the taunted one refuses to taunt back or fight back, but he is not powerless. He takes action, but it is action for the positive. Along this line of thought, I appreciate that the focus of the poem is on the positive. An article in The Dublin Villager shared the story of Drew Jones, an elementary school art teacher who wanted to find a positive way to educate students about bullying during National Bullying Prevention Month.  Drew Jones with a note from the wall of encouragement. Image from thisweeknews.com He came up with a unique idea: an interactive wall where students could leave notes of encouragement for one another. Using recycled cardboard and paper towel tubes, the students went to work creating a wall that featured multiple slots to house the notes, almost like a wall of mail boxes. The wall was put up in the school hallway and painted orange, the color of Bullying Awareness. While they worked, the children discussed bullying honestly and openly, sharing their own experiences and coming up with solutions to the issue. Months after its creation, the wall continued to be popular, needing refilled every day. “It’s awesome,” one student stated, “It says I’m special.” Bullying is a difficult and painful topic and it’s easy to get bogged down in discussing the negative causes and effects of the behavior. While it is important to educate children about the realities of bullying, we must not forget the power of kindness and positivity in stopping the problem at its source. We need to teach our children on how to handle bullying when it occurs, but it is imperative that we also take efforts to cultivate an environment of kindness, empathy, and positivity so that bullying is less likely to occur at all.  Another fantastic aspect of Markham’s poem is its description of love as something powerful. Love is sometimes portrayed as a weakness, or as something that is soft and delicate, but the reality is that love is the most powerful tool that we have and true love is tough. True love changes lives. Many children bully because they don’t feel loved. By loving the bully instead of simply telling him or her to “stop”, we cauterize the wound instead of constantly trying to staunch the blood. It was love that prompted the speaker in the poem to act. It was love that took a situation of pain and separation and turned it into one of forgiveness and togetherness. “Outwitted” teaches children that love is strength, not weakness. Markham also draws a connection between love and wit. Not only is love often portrayed as a weakness, it is also frequently connected with foolishness and helplessness. People fall in love, they are blinded by love, or they act unwisely because they are in love. However real, true, love, takes all the wits you have. To love someone means to care for them, to want the best for them, even when they aren’t acting very likeable. True love isn’t always easy and it takes thought and wisdom to foster and maintain. Retaliating, ignoring, or running is easy. Loving someone that is hurting you takes intelligence and clarity of mind. This poem illustrates that. A unique facet of “Outwitted” is that, unlike many other works of literature, it humanizes the bully. It doesn’t call him names, wish a horrible fate for him, or paint him as a villain. Instead, it portrays the bully as someone who can be loved. Many children bully because they feel inadequate or isolated. By creating a circle that includes the bully, the writer is not only saying “you were wrong about me”, but also, “you were wrong about yourself.”
Teaching children to draw others in builds empathy, a core skill in preventing bullying, and provides a concrete example of empathy for children who bully, as well. Our goal should not be to simply end the bullying, but to mold children into adults that will never bully, who will choose to always consider and value the thoughts of others, and who will always try to love first. The final strength of this poem is that it is visual. Loving someone that is hurting you or trying to view the world from their perspective can be a foreign or even abstract concept, especially to a child. However, even a child can understand the significance of drawing an inclusive circle. This could even be carried into a classroom activity to help illustrate the point.  Image from learnplayimagine.com Have students stand outside on the sidewalk and draw circles around groups of kids. Ask students to describe what is similar about everyone in their circle. Without moving, change the circles (think Venn Diagram). Have the new groups find similarities, illustrating how they all have commonalities if they look for them. Discuss how they felt when they were left out of someone else’s circle or if someone was left out of theirs. Using the poem, connect this literal drawing of circles to the figurative boundaries that are frequently drawn amongst students. On the surface, Edwin Markham’s “Outwitted” is short and simple, but like most poems, there is a lot going on underneath. Christmas time is filled with songs and rhymes. In this season of goodwill and togetherness, I would encourage you to add this poem into the mix! Have you read this poem before? What did it say to you? Would you use this to help prevent bullying? Let us know in the comments!
  It’s Picture Book Month!! For the entire month of November we get to officially celebrate the often underrated art of combining words with illustrations to create a magical dynamic that impacts readers in a way no other medium can. The picture book, unlike any other form of literature, invites readers to analyze, not just the words in the story, but also the images on the page. With their shorter prose and beautiful images, picture books are often the first taste of the world of books that young people get. They gently introduce difficult topics, speak complex truths simply, and bring to life worlds and characters we could never imagine. Yes, picture books are fantastic for kids and -- let’s admit it -- we all have at least one favorite picture book sitting on our shelves that we like to page through every now and then. I know I do, and I’m not alone.  Image found on Pinterest.com/repent4kingdomo Picture book author/illustrator Molly Idle writes, “Picture books are a mirror. A magic mirror. For picture books can show us, not only reflections of ourselves, but reflections of other people and places too. They can show us reflections of the past, the present and the future. Reflections of the possible and the impossible. The real, and the imagined…And in all of those reflections, we see ourselves.” (Check out the Picture Book Month Website to read even more quotes from your favorite authors on why they believe picture books are important!) Sadly, picture books are often brushed aside as “beginner books”. Many people believe that a child still reading picture books after the age of 8 must be stunted in some way. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Picture books are fantastic tools for introducing difficult or complex topics, encouraging reluctant readers, building analytical skills in readers of all ages, and growing observational skills, in addition to just being fun! Thankfully, thanks to recent studies, more and more people are beginning to realize the incredible value packed into the pages of the picture book. Author Debbie Ridpath Ohi wrote an excellent blog post that discusses this value and the many benefits of picture books in greater depth over on her site, inkygirl.com. Another frequently overlooked detail about picture books is the incredible amount of collaboration that goes into their creation. Occasionally a brilliant author/illustrator/marketer appears on the scene, but this is rare. Typically, there is an author, illustrator, and publisher working together to make a story come to life. Pictures and text must work seamlessly to capture the most important essence of the page, revealing the depth of character and the tone of the story. Every line and every color is carefully chosen to ensure the message is communicated properly. Once completed, a marketer must identify the proper audience and find ways to connect that audience with the books that they enjoy. It is teamwork, from beginning to end. The idea of a lone author madly typing away in solitude cannot exist in this situation.  Photo found on hollind.edu This collaborative quality, combined with the inherent power for teaching inside each picture book, makes this genre a fantastic instrument for integrating bullying prevention into the classroom (For more great ideas on integrating bullying prevention into other areas of the classroom, check out last month’s blog). Not only do they offer an easy gateway into the discussion of a difficult topic and leave room for expansion, their collaborative nature provides an opportunity to discuss the value of teamwork and the bringing together of different talents to meet a common goal. Here is a simple project integrating bullying prevention education that you can do with your students of all ages using picture books:
Picture books are more than just books. They are more than starter literature. They are examples of the magic that can happen when people work together using their unique gifts to achieve a common goal. This Picture Book Month, grab a picture book off the shelf and capture some of that magic for yourself! ******************************************************* What picture book do you still have on your shelf? What lesson did you learn from a picture book that you still remember today? Share in the comments! An added bonus is that this project will open the door for students to talk to students about bullying. While they may not want to listen to what an adult has to say, they may be more open to the messages of their peers. Books are fun and nonthreatening and often bring together groups and individuals that would not typically meet. As Reddit user “Coolstoryreddit” stated: “Seeing someone read a book you love is seeing a book recommend a person”
  photo credit:Jerry Lai October is National Bullying Prevention Month, which means that bullying is a topic T.V shows, magazines, and organizations will be talking about regularly. Schools will have units on bullying prevention and people will participate in runs and walks to raise awareness about the issue. All October, bullying will be on everyone’s minds. This is wonderful! But what happens when October comes to an end? When the organized festivities stop, does bullying also stop? Sadly, this is not the case. Yet, too often, we hold our bullying prevention assemblies and then move on to math classes, vocabulary tests, and science experiments while the topic of bullying is pushed to the back burner. Many teachers recognize this problem, but are unsure of a solution when there is so much other material that must be covered throughout the school year. But what makes us think we have to choose one or the other? The truth is there are myriad ways to integrate lessons on bullying and bullying prevention directly into other academic lessons already being taught. With a bit of creativity, in fact, this integration can even improve those lessons! Integrating bullying prevention into other subject matter helps students to see the real-world application of the lessons they are learning. Math may seem intangible, but the idea of 1 in 3 students being bullied daily is a reality that children can see. This integration also helps children to see that bullying prevention isn’t just a slogan or something trite they are forced to listen to in school. Bullying is about human relations and this does not end in school, nor do the effects of bullying. By integrating these lessons throughout the classroom, we show that this is a vital topic that can affect every part of life. To give you some inspiration, here are some ideas for integrating bullying prevention education throughout the classroom. These ideas can be scaled up or down to work with children of all ages: Art photo credit: Ruth Hartnup Art is probably one of the first subjects that comes to mind when trying to integrate bullying prevention. Art can be expressive, therapeutic, or socially active, and from painting to acting to drawing, there is something for everyone. Here are a few ideas for integrating bullying prevention into your art class:
Language Arts photo credit: Kamilla Oliveira Words have such incredible power for expression, making Language Arts another perfect subject for integration. Here are some ideas to get you started:
Math photo credit: Gil Abrantes Math may seem far removed from bullying, however it is a very helpful tool to help us understand the true effects of bullying. Here are some ways to integrate math and bullying prevention:
Science photo credit: incidencematrix Science helps us make sense of the world around us, making it a perfect subject to integrate with bullying prevention education.
Music photo credit: Kiera Chan Music is a powerful tool for expression and change:
Community and Leadership Photo found on Pacer.org/bullying Civil engagement is important and should be taught at an early age. Here are some ways to build leadership skills and teach about community involvement while also teaching bullying prevention:
Social Studies/History Photo credit: Sarah Joy, joybot This is another subject with nearly endless possibilities. Below are just a few ideas of many:
Research photo credit: Frederick Lang Jr. Investigate and report on different types of bullying, causes, effects, etc, and report it to the class. This can be used in any subject. Take this opportunity to highlight the importance of seeking out information for one’s self rather than simply believing what one hears or is told. Encourage students to seek out the truth rather than spreading rumors. Lunch and Recess photo credit: Heather Temske Extend the lessons beyond the regular classroom and encourage students to sit with someone new at lunch or learn someone else’s game at recess. Learn games from other cultures and show students how different can be fun and make life more interesting. ***************************************************************** I hope these ideas inspired you to integrate bullying prevention education throughout your classroom all year long! Bullying isn’t just something that happens in school and it isn’t something that just happens to children. Bullying can happen anywhere at any time and at any age. By boxing bullying prevention into a single day or a single lesson, we are being unrealistic and doing our children a disservice. Instead, let’s continue this vital lesson throughout the year and connect it to real people and experiences. Rather than just teaching our children about the world, let’s also teach them to change it. Which of these ideas do you like the most? Do you have any special ways of integrating bullying prevention into your classroom this year? Let us know in the comments! Looking for a good book to integrate bullying prevention into your classroom? Check out This is A. BlobThis is A. Blob, by L.A. Kefalos!
 This is A. Blob is a masterfully illustrated picture book suitable for children ages 4-8. Written by L.A. Kefalos, author of several animated shorts, including “Who’s that Knocking,” “Chug,” and “Croc, Pots and Wildebeests,” which was nominated for Best Independent Short Short, Ages 5-8, at the 2009 Kid’s First Film Festival and for best short at The Los Angeles Women’s International Film Festival, This is A. Blob is the first of a series following this bully. This first installment follows the antics of A. Blob, a slimy, purple, blob-like creature who wreaks havoc on the elementary school playground with its bullying ways. As the story progresses, however, readers learn that A. Blob may have more to it than meets the eye. Along with its powerful illustrations and rhymed verse for early readers, this story invites children to put themselves in the shoes of another. The book encourages readers to consider why bullies behave the way they do – and start to consider what can be done to help
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About Laughing Leopard PressHello! We are Laughing Leopard Press, an independent book publisher from Akron, Ohio. At Laughing Leopard Press, we’re interested in publishing works that contribute to our understanding of this wonderful world. Through this blog, we hope to add to that understanding with commentary on life, literature, and a few things in between. We hope you enjoy the blog and take some time to talk with us in the comments or on our social media sites. Happy reading! 
This is A. Blob by L. A Kefalos. $14.95
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