October is National Bullying Prevention Month, and the timing couldn’t be better to remind students how to have a bully-free school year and create a positive classroom culture.
National Bullying Prevention Month unites communities nationwide to educate and raise awareness of bullying prevention, and while the focus is during October, the life lessons for a kinder, safer community can be carried throughout the year.
How to Create a Safe Zone in Your Classroom
Involving students in establishing bullying prevention rules helps them to recognize what bullying is, how it affects people, and what students can do to stop it or to ask for help. Making your classroom a “safe zone” positively affects your classroom culture and reinforces behaviors and attitudes that students take onto the playground, onto the school bus, and to after-school activities.
Free Posters: Use these posters to help establish your safe-zone messaging in your classroom.
Download 6 posters here (11 x 17 tabloid size)
Download 6 posters here (8.5 x 11 paper size)
Printing note: You may need to adjust your printer for 11×17 paper. Go to “Page Set Up” in your printer settings and change the paper size to “Tabloid (11 x 17 inches).”
Five Anti-Bullying Activities for Elementary School Students
1. Talk About What Bullying Is
Before you guide students in a discussion about what bullying is, you may want to take some time to review the different types of bullying that can occur. The website stopbulling.gov is a great resource and a quick read. website what is bullying.gov
Depending on students’ ages and grade levels, the nature of their understanding of bullying will vary. Have students share what they know about bullying. Use the questions below to get the discussion started. Guide students in understanding what bullying behaviors are.
- What does “bullying” mean to you?
- Why do you think people bully?
- Have you ever felt scared to go to school because you were afraid of bullying?
- Have you left other kids out on purpose? Do you think that was bullying?
2. Talk About How to Prevent Bullying
Parents, teachers, and other school staff play an important role in preventing bullying. Help students understand their role in preventing bullying. Again, stopbullying.gov provides valuable guidance on this topic. website stop bullying.gov
Guide students in a discussion about how to stand up for themselves safely and how to get help. Make sure students understand what policies your school has in place to help stop bullying.
3. Explain What a Safe Zone Is
Now that students understand what bullying is and how to prevent it or respond to it, explain to students that a “safe zone” is a place where all students feel safe and are free from bullying. Point out how your classroom rules reinforce physical and emotional safety. Then invite students to brainstorm things that make them feel safe, such as the following:
- Being around people who are nice
- Being able to ask questions without being laughed at
- Feeling like it is okay if they don’t understand something
- Being able to say how they feel
- Being able to take a time out to calm down or cope with their feelings
4. Post Visual Reminders
In addition to bullying prevention posters you display, have students get into small groups and work together to make bullying prevention and safe-zone posters. Model how to include positive messages that remind and inspire students to keep their classroom a safe zone. Post words for them to use, such as communication, kindness, respect, and patience.
5. Respond to Bullying Right Away
Students who are bullied and students who are bullying both need help.
Students who are hurting and don’t know how to deal with their anger, sadness, and frustration often lash out and become bullies. They need to know that behavior that harms another student or creates a hostile environment is not okay, and they also need to know that they can make different choices and receive help for their own feelings of hurt, anger, and sadness.
Students who are being bullied may feel too scared and confused to report it. It is important that they understand that there are adults who can help them and there are things they can do to safely help themselves and stop the bullying. The website stopbulling.gov provides important guidance about how to stop bullying on the spot. website how to prevent bullying.gov
Additional resources
Classroom resources that provide lessons and activities about social and emotional learning and culturally responsive classroom environments can help create a culture of safety and belonging in your classroom.
Try these free Evan-Moor sample lessons with your students:
Social and Emotional Learning Activities
Sampler
Culturally Responsive Lessons and Activities
Sampler
Learn more about these resources that support positive classroom cultures:
- Social and Emotional Learning Activities, grades PreK–6 (Print and E-book teaching resources)
- Culturally Responsive Lessons and Activities, grades 1–6 (Print and E-book teaching resources)
- Social Skills Activities for Today’s Kids, Ages 4–11 (Full-color activity books; Class Packs)
Learn more about National Bullying Prevention Month here.
Lisa Vitarisi Mathews serves as Publisher of Evan-Moor Educational Publishers. She has over 20 years’ experience in PreK–8 education, and has worked closely with teachers across the United States through Evan-Moor product training and workshops.