Signal Hill Kicks Off its Olweus Bullying Prevention Program for the 2009-10 School Year!

October 13 and 15, 2009

Dear Signal Hill Parents and Students,

This week we kicked off our Olweus Bully Prevention Program with two wonderful programs -- one for grades 4 and 5, and a separate one for grades K-3.

Mrs. Selepak, School Counselor, presented the program for our 4th and 5th graders which concentrated on again defining bullying, but went into some depth about cyber bullying.  Cyber bullying is any kind of bullying through e-mail, instant messaging, chat-rooms, a website, or by images or threats sent on a cell phone.  With the increased use of technology, there is an increase in cyber bullying everywhere.  Students learned why cyber bullying can be so devastating to the person being bullied, and how they can report cyber bullying to parents or to the school. They were also given tips for online safety:
1.  Never give out your password, even to a friend.
2.  Never give out personal information without your parent's approval.
3.  Tell parents right away if they see something that makes them uncomfortable.
4.  Never agree to meet someone from online without first checking with parents.
5.  Never send their picture of anything else without first checking with parents.

We also had two of our fifth graders do a rap on "Be Safer Online", and Mrs. Byrne's class did a skit showing how students can stand up for someone who is being bullied by asking the bully to stop, and supporting the target of the bullying.

For the kick off for grades K-3, Mrs. Walck, School Counselor, talked to the students about how bullying is being mean on purpose to someone who is smaller and weaker, and doing it over and over again.  Mrs. Burke, one of our 3rd grade teachers, had her class do a wonderful skit based on the book, Have You Filled a Bucket Today? by Carol McCloud.  The skit showed how everyone carries around a bucket. The bucket is to hold good thoughts and good feelings about yourself. When a person is nice to us, it fills up our bucket and we feel good.  When someone is mean to us, they take some of the good feelings out of our bucket.  The book explains that bullies are bucket dippers.  They think if they do something that makes another person feel bad, it will fill their buckets, but it does not.  You can't fill your bucket when you bully someone else!  Children were then asked to fill at least 5 people's buckets every day. 

The Olweus program is up and running strong in our school.  Students know that at Signal Hill Elementary, we are all here to support them and make them safe, and they can contribute to that good atmosphere by being a bucket filler and by standing up for children who are targeted.  Way to go, Signal Hill!!