Anti-Bullying Series (3 parts) – Weird, Dare, Tough

This is by far one of my favorite lessons of all time. Students are always so excited to read the next book since we split this series up into 3 days. I was able to witness a group of students fall in love with this series during my internship under an amazing school counselor who inspired me immensely in my journey of becoming a school counselor, so this lesson has a special spot in my heart. I hope your students love it as much as ours!

Lesson Title: Anti Bullying Series – Weird!, Dare!, & Tough! books

Grade(s): K-5

ASCA Standards:

• PS:B1.4 Develop effective coping skills for dealing with problems
• PS:B1.5 Demonstrate when, where and how to seek help for solving problems and making decisions
• PS:B1.6 Know how to apply conflict resolution skills
• PS:B1.7 Demonstrate a respect and appreciation for individual and cultural differences
• PS:B1.8 Know when peer pressure is influencing a decision
• PS:C1.2 Learn about the relationship between rules, laws, safety and the protection of rights of the individual
• PS:C1.5 Differentiate between situations requiring peer support and situations requiring adult professional help
• PS:C1.6 Identify resource people in the school and community, and know how to seek their help

Learning Objectives:

• Students will be able to identify what is and is not bullying behavior
• Students will be able to list at least 3 ways to avoid or handle bullying situations

Materials:

• Weird!, Dare!, and Tough! book series by Erin Frankel

Lesson:

Day 1: Explore what bullying is and isn’t on the board. Write:

Conflict	Rude	Mean	Bullying
Occasional	Occasional	Once or Twice	Is REPEATED
Not planned; in the heat of the moment	Spontaneous/unintentional	Intentional	Is planned and done on purpose
All parties are upset	Can cause hurt feelings; upset	Can hurt others deeply	The target of the bullying is upset
All parties want to work things out	Based in thoughtlessness, poor manners or narcissism	Based in anger; impulsive cruelty	The bully is trying to gain control over the target
All parties will accept responsibility	Rude person accepts responsibility	Behavior often regretted	The bully blames the target
An effort is made by all parties to solve the problem			The target wants to stop the bully’s behavior, the bully does not

Emphasize that bullying is REPEATED, UNWANTED, AGGRESSIVE, AND HAS AN INBALANCE OF POWER.

Read the following situations and have students determine whether or not it is bullying based on the parameters written on the board:

• Someone in your class told you that you can’t play with him/her today.
  • This is NOT bullying, this is rude behavior.
• You and your best friend get into an argument over who gets to play goalie during soccer. Your best friend tells you that he/she won’t be your friend anymore and you tell him/her that he/she is a bad goalie.
  • This is NOT bullying, this is a conflict.
• Stuart trips you every day as you walk to your desk. He yells names at you during recess and spread five untrue rumors about you to the whole school. He has taken items that belong to you two times.
  • This IS bullying.
• Your classmate makes fun of you for wearing new shoes by saying they are ugly. She kicked dirt at your shoes and made them dirty. She later apologized and asked for you to forgive her.
  • This is NOT bullying, this is mean behavior.

Activity:

1. Read the Weird book.
2. Do the activity in the following link in groups of 4: https://www.superteacherworksheets.com/bullying/bullying-story-spelling-test_SPELL.pdf?up=1466611200

Day 2: Discuss and write on board:

Bullying can be:

PHYSICAL: hitting, kicking, tripping…

VERBAL: name calling, mocking, racial comments, rumors, inappropriate remarks…

SOCIAL/RELATIONAL: excluding others, humiliating, graffiti aimed at others, putdowns

CYBER BULLYING: spreading rumors or saying hurtful remarks online or via text

Read: Dare

Activity:

Break class up into 4 groups and provide each group with a form of bullying: physical, verbal, social/relational, and cyberbullying. Ask each group to develop a skit/play that illustrates the type of bullying assigned to them to present to the class. Ask the groups to include a positive solution for the victim to overcome the bullying.

Day 3: Discuss – Why do people become bullies?

• Feeling powerless in one’s own life
• Someone else is bullying them
• Jealousy or frustration
• Lack of understanding or empathy
• Looking for attention
• Mimics behaviors of family
• Bullying behavior gets rewarded
• Inability to regulate emotions

Explain to students that it isn’t just the victim that experiences the problem, but so does the bully! One study found that if we track the lives of both the victim and the bully, both are more likely to have serious, lasting problems than those who were not bullied or a bully.

Read Tough.

Activity:

1. Provide students (grades 2-5) with the following worksheet to measure their understanding of this topic:

https://www.worksheetplace.com/mf_pdf/Down-with-Bullying-Worksheet.pdf

• If time allows, allow students to work in groups to make posters to hang up around the school about bullying. Have the students write a word that goes down (the name of their school or use the words DARE, WEIRD, and TOUGH as listed in the back of the book) and have the students find words that can go horizontally that also use that first letter. This will look similar to a crossword puzzle. Younger grades can simply draw pictures or decorate a poster with an anti-bullying theme.