Join the thousands of students already part of the nationwide movement that is National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence (NDA) and get ready to take action on Friday 20 March.
Australian schools are invited to register now and get involved.
Shutterstock.com / Kunal Mehta
How will your school take action towards stamping out bullying?
It’s Easy to Get Involved
We need your help! So, don’t let National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence pass you and your school community by. Make sure to give it the time and attention it needs.
Shutterstock.com / Rido
So, how big is the problem of bullying anyway? Research is ongoing, but a study in 2009 revealed that:
- One in four Year 4 to Year 9 Australian students (that’s 27%) reported being bullied every few weeks or more often.
- Frequent school bullying was highest among Year 5 (32%) and Year 8 (29%) students.
- 83% of students who bully others online also bully others in person.
- 84% of students who were bullied online were also bullied in person.
As you can see, it’s critical that we stand together and take action to create safer communities for everyone. For more facts and figures see the Bullying. No Way! website.
Take Action Together
National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence (NDA) is a day when schools across Australia unite against bullying and violence The theme for the 2021 NDA is Take Action Together. All schools in Australia are encouraged to register as an official NDA school. However, everyone and anyone can take part in this important day and make a positive difference and change lives. It’s not too late to get involved.
Here are some stats from the NDA website showing the positive impacts of taking part in this nationwide event.
Screenshot from bullyingnoway.gov.au
Make Your Own Wrist Bands!
Your students will love to make their own personalised wrist bands! All you need is strips of purple and orange card and velcro dots!
We love the idea of adding a powerful anti-bullying message to wristbands. Don’t miss the opportunity for plenty of class discussion, modelled and shared writing.
Check out our huge collection of persuasive writing teaching resources to help your students write powerful messages on their wrist band. Your students will love making their own posters, banners and flags to take action and help to stamp out bullying.
FREE Teaching Resources
It’s not too late to register your school and you can still download materials and resources to make your NDA great!
Take the time to check out the huge range of NDA teaching resources from lower primary to lower secondary year levels. You’ll find everything that you need from lesson plans and group activities covering most of the key curriculum areas.
Anti-Bullying Videos for Kids
This is a short one-minute animated video that is perfect for the younger year levels and introduces the term ‘bullying” to young children.
This next video is a great one for the older year levels. Elvis, the student, narrates a video explaining exactly what behaviour qualifies as bullying and discusses the difference between conflict and bullying.
Have a Class Discussion About Bullying
If nothing else, have an open, honest and upfront discussion about bullying on National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence (NDA).
This might sound obvious, but it can be tempting to avoid the topic of bullying because it opens up challenging discussions that are complicated to unpack. To me, a difficult conversation about bullying is a gift. It’s a chance to open up wounds before they can be healed and a chance to let go of negative experiences.
Have a class discussion and let your students know that they are not alone. Why not take your class discussion outside into the fresh air?
Make a Strong Message Chain
Looking for a quick and easy activity? Why not make an Anti-Bullying paper chain!
Encourage your students to write an anti-bullying message on a strip of coloured paper. Then secure them together to show a united stand against bullying.
Wrinkled Heart Activity
The Wrinkled Heart Activity is a brilliant way to show how bullying and hurtful words can cause irreversible damage and the impact of bullying. Just like a human heart, once a paper heart has been wrinkled, it’s almost impossible to return it to it’s flat and smooth original state.
“Before you speak, think and be smart. It’s hard to fix a wrinkled heart!”
For lower years, this activity can be in conjunction with children’s book Chrysanthemum written by Kevin Henkes. Chrysanthemum is a thought-provoking tale of a little girl who loves her name and has all the confidence in the world until she starts school.
Lower Years Wrinkled Heart Activity
- Provide each student with a paper heart.
- Watch Chrysanthemum on YouTube.
- Encourage your students to listen carefully.
- When the characters in the story use mean words, encourage your students to scrunch up their paper hearts.
- Every time Chrysanthemum’s parents use kind words, encourage your students to try and smooth out their paper hearts.
- As a class, discuss the irreversible damage that harmful words and bullying can cause.
For more information about this activity read Holly’s blog Wrinkled Heart Classroom Activity.
Mindful Communication Activities for Kids
Recently Bron wrote a blog about mindful communication. This can be challenging for primary-aged children to understand, particularly when they are still developing social skills, their vocabularies, interpersonal skills like empathy, as well as finding their own unique voices.
Read the blog here – Mindful Communication Activities for Kids.
Bullying and Resilience Unit Plan
We have created a Bullying and Resilience Unit to help stamp out bullying and to encourage student resilience.
This 9 lesson unit plan includes a teaching presentation to make life easier!
This Personal, Social and Community Health unit introduces five resilience strategies to help students deal positively and effectively with bullying. While this unit has been written with Year 3 and Year 4 students in mind, many lesson ideas, activities and resources are equally suitable for upper grades.
The unit includes Bullying Role Play Cards, a Resilience Tool Kit Poster, a Resilience Board Game and a Resilience Tool Kit Poster – With Explanations.
Together, We Can Make a Difference
To sum it up, your school’s involvement in National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence 2020 is critically important. And it’s time to take action together!
Get ready for Friday 20 March 2020 by heading to the NDA website or our collection of Bullying Teaching Resources.
Raise awareness by sharing this article with your teacher friends.
The post Bullying. No Way Resources (Anti Bullying Campaign for Schools) appeared first on Teach Starter.