Awesomeness

We have an awesome school. In case you weren’t aware, October is National Bully Awareness Month and our school is tackling that issue head on! Our school councelors have done an amazing job of exploring bullying prevention and the students, from pre-k up to 5th, are all familiar with the three signs of bullying and what to do about it. We have excellent examples of students standing up for one another in school, on the bus, and out of school. Ask any kid and they will tell you exactly what bullying is and how it can be stopped. Last year the 4th grade did a powerful song/dance about the “bully machine” and this year the councelors took it a step further and organized an entire day, Unity Day (inspired by Pacer’s National Bullying Prevention Center)

All week the students have been making signs and banners, pencil toppers, wrist bands, and more to prepare for the big day. The school got bright orange “Otters Don’t Bully” t-shirts and decked the halls in orange, the official color of bullying prevention.

The local news came to our 5th grade classroom on Monday to do a story on our Unity Day preparations. That was pretty of cool.

Last night the kids worked hard to decorate their bikes and scooters for the special themed Walk and Ride To School day. They do “walk and ride” every week, but today’s was extra special.

bike signs p1

Eve’s sign for her scooter.

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Lex’s signs. He even had a written plan as to where to put each sign on his bike.

bike signs p3

We got the bike and scooter decorated last night, so they would be all set for this morning.

This morning we got dressed in our matching bright orange shirts. I didn’t buy Alan one. Not sure how well bright orange and “Otters Don’t Bully” would have gone over in the office. :) At school, however, we blended right in with the crowd!

shirts

We all wore matching bright orange shirts today. :)

I don’t have pictures from the day, unfortunately, but it was a ton of fun. We had record number of students, parents, and siblings on the bike path, sporting orange and carrying anti-bullying signs. I’m sure pictures will be posted soon on the school website. Several have been posted on the school’s Facebook page already. We had an assembly in the morning where they showed videos students had made, built a chain of bullying prevention messages, had a performance by the 4/5th grade chorus (with a special surprise from the teachers!) and even had a special guest, Charleigh Gere, a local middle school student who is making a stand. (Watch her amazing video here.)

Our Unity Day dance. Listen to the kids cheer when the second round of teachers comes in. Too funny!

Anyway, overall an amazing day. We have great school councelors and an awesome school community. So proud to be a part of it!!

2 thoughts on “Awesomeness

  1. That school seems really awesome. Im glad you guys have such a great community up there.

    Miss you, and I LOVE YOUR ORANGE T SHIRTS.

  2. Pingback: Unity Day | Calm and Chaos: Life with kids

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