Building Empathy with Hey Little Ant

Hey Little Ant is a great resource for building empathy as students are asked to put themselves in another's shoes. This year I used this book and song with some of my second grade students. A free mp3 version of the song is available here.  I read the story, we discussed it, and then we brainstormed reasons why the ant should be squished or should go free.

Students then wrote a letter to the ant bully persuading him to either squish or not squish the ant. The ant bully letter template can be found here. 

Meet Wiggles.

This year I used some new resources from HeidiSongs with my Kindergarten friends as we learned about following the rules and paying attention. I used a dog puppet and the books Wiggles Learns the Rules at School and Wiggles Learns to Pay Attention. I watched Heidi's video (found here) and used this strategy of students saying "no no Wiggles" along with the book to all of the wrong behaviors Wiggles has. They LOVED it! After each reading we learned a song from the HeidiSongs Music for Classroom Management DVD and made a Wiggles craft. I found both of these books and lessons to be ones students enjoyed. A 1st grader came into my classroom a few days later wanting to meet Wiggles because he'd heard about him from his Kindergarten brother - success!

After reading Wiggles Learns the Rules at School, we learned the song "Follow the Rules." We made a Wiggles puppet. Then we read the story again with all of the students using their Wiggles puppet just as I'd used mine on the first reading.

Here we are singing our "Follow the Rules" song. 

After reading Wiggles Learns to Pay Attention, we learned the song "No Interrupting." I videoed students singing this song and we watched the clip of their performance at the end of the lesson. We made a "good listener" badge like the one Wiggles received in the story. 

Lessons on Bullying

After my initial lesson, I typically do a lesson on bullying in each grade level 1st - 5th to have everyone on the same page. I will continue to talk about bullying and have some additional lessons on this topic as the year goes on.

Here's an overview of each lesson I did this year.

1st Grade: We read Chester Raccoon and the Big Bad Bully and discussed the story. Students completed a worksheet identifying behaviors to have if being bullied (page 2 in the packet.) We also did a whole class fill in the blank activity to review key points of the lesson and students drew a picture of themselves being a friend to someone who has been bullied.

2nd Grade: We watched and discussed clips from this site. We read and discussed The Bully Blockers Club. Students then completed two worksheets taken from the Safe & Caring Schools book. (*Which side note is the best resource I have ever purchased for myself! I use this book series constantly in my planning.)

3rd Grade: We read The Bully Machine and discussed the story. Students completed a story completion activity sheet and designed their own bully machine following our reading. My lesson and activities are taken from this free resource on the Free Spirit website. (This activity is one students always enjoy!) 

4th Grade: One of my goals with this lesson was to contradict the stereotype of a bully as a boy beating up other kids. We started with the Mean Girl Webisode from Pacer Kids Against Bullying (a great resource). We read Bully Beans by Julia Cook, and in our discussion of the story, I emphasized the importance of bystanders in stopping bullying. Students did an activity sheet about bullying from Safe & Caring Schools.

5th Grade: I use various video clips and PSA's to introduce the content of this lesson. I have used this, this, and this clip. The students do a role play of the Bully Circle that I saw demonstrated by Rodger Dinwiddie at a professional development day a few years ago. One of the key points I remember him making from that training was "for bullying prevention, you don't focus on trying to change the bully. You focus on trying to change the environment." This is what I try to empower my students to do as we talk about bullying - to take a courageous step towards the target and not be okay with any bullying behaviors.

A few years ago I compiled a video on bullying that I always show to my students in 4th and 5th grade at the end of our lesson. Kids want to see it every week! I know that many of the images in the video are some I found online (not sure copyright issues with this), but it is a great way for us to visualize the emotions experienced by targets of bullying and make an empathetic connection with the topic.

link to video on animoto.com

Kid President

I love incorporating media and technology into my lessons in any way I can. I also love Kid President! This video message to teachers and students would be great to share as an encouragement to all in your building!

Teachers see things. They see when you're running down the hall. They see when you're passing notes. But they also see the person that we can all become someday. A writer, or a speaker, or Martin Luther King. . . Here's to teachers that see the awesome. - Kid President

Here's a link to other Kid President videos.