Dear EVCS students,

Welcome back!  I have some exciting news to share with you: We can finally start using our schoolyard again!  This week will be our “soft opening” of the schoolyard.  Every class from each of the three schools in our building will get their own scheduled time this week to go down and explore all of the new features in the yard. We’ll start having regular recess, arrival and dismissal in the schoolyard next Monday.

Earlier this year at SWMM we spoke about bullying and how we can prevent it.  Today we are going to look more closely at one aspect of bullying, and to help me out I’m going to bring up all of the teachers on our Bullying Prevention Committee: Selena, Chloe, Jenna, Megan, Eric, Maggie, Noelle, and Liz.

Good morning!

Today we are going to talk about bullying. Do you remember how we define bullying at EVCS?

Bullying is when someone repeatedly and on purpose says or does mean or hurtful things to another person who has a hard time defending himself or herself.

When someone is bullied, it is never just one person’s fault. There are so many people who play a part in bullying.

Let’s take a minute and look at all the roles people play in bullying.

Today, we are going to think about one participant in the bullying cycle, the disengaged onlooker. They watch what’s happening, they know it’s wrong, and they do not do anything.  Take a minute and think about one thing you could do when you see someone being bullied.

Another word for an onlooker is a bystander — someone who stands by and does nothing.  Instead of being a bystander, be an upstander — someone who stands up and does the right thing when they see bullying behavior.  Let’s all try our best to be a community of upstanders!

One way you can be an upstander at EVCS is by telling a grown-up when you see bullying behavior.  If you see bullying at our school and you think something should be done, please let someone on the Bullying Prevention Committee know.

Thanks and have a great day,

Bradley, Liz, Selena, Chloe, Jenna, Megan, Eric, Maggie, and Noelle.

Let’s finish with our candle breathing exercise.

Thanks very much to our friends in Kindergarten for sharing their work and hosting this morning!  Thanks, as always, to  the amazing EVCS SWMM House Band!  And thanks to everyone who joined us today and sang loud and proud.  Have a great day.

Love,

Bradley