Cathleen and I visited Richard Ricardo School to present a lesson plan on bullying to 3rd and 4th graders. In total we completed a total of 4 lessons on bullying. There were 3 different classrooms of 3rd graders, and approximately 20 children per classroom. Then, we ended with one room of 4th graders. The total number of children that we saw during our day at Richard Ricardo was approximately 75 students.
During our lesson plan, we started off by asking the children what bullying was. Next, we gave each person a colorful sheet of construction paper and told them to write what bullying was to them on the sheet of paper. To finish the project, we told each of them to turn the sheet of paper over and trace their hand. Then we took the pledge to not use our hands for hurting ourselves or others and to use our hands for good, not bad. Then each child signed their hand on the sheet of paper. At the end of the lesson plan, we encouraged each student to act out a bullying scenario and discuss different ways to handle bullying in school, at home, or even just walking down the street. As a gift, we gave each student a purple glove that they blew up like a balloon and signed their name on the glove-balloon.
Overall, it was a wonderful day filled with education about bullying and everyone had a lot of fun!
-Hillary