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Name of Activity:

Face Value Anti-Bullying Activity

Suggested Grade Level:

6-8

Materials Needed:

Deck of playing cards.

Description of Idea

A good activity to use at the beginning of the school year, or when you observe bullying taking place in your school.

Begin with every student receiving a card, face down. Explain to the students the following:

-You are to not look at your card or tell anyone else what their card is.
-Everyone should place the card on their forehead with the face of the card facing away from their heads
-Begin to mingle with each other but treat everyone based on the "face value" of their card. For example, low cards (2-5) don't get much attention or are avoided, mid-range cards (6-10) are treated with respect but not overly lauded, royal cards (J, Q, K, A) are the best of the deck--those cards are the ones you try to hang out with, treat well and are "super cool".

Allow students to mingle for several minutes treating others based on face value. Call for their attention and then have students divide into groups based on how they have been treated, low cards, mid-range and royalty. Discuss how it doesn't take very long to figure out what "group" you belong to based on how people treat you.

Ask members from each group why they felt like they belonged in that group and how people made them feel. Lead into a disucssion about the "Golden Rule" and how everyone should expect to be treated like royalty, but in return should treat everyone else like royalty as well, not as "low cards." Have students take the cards off their foreheads and check to see if they are correct in guessing which level card they have. After this activity you can easily lead into a bullying discussion where you identify and define what bullying is, types of bullying, why people bully, what to do if you see bullying or are bullied and how to avoid becoming a bully themselves.

At the end, always remind students that bullying stops with them. It has to be a personal and individual choice to make it stop and to treat all those around them as if they were all royalty cards.

Teaching Suggestions:

Check out www.stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov for good information and student resources.

Submitted by Kristal Kostiew who teaches at MSA Academy in Plaquemine, LA. Thanks for contributing to PE Central! Posted on PEC: 11/2/2012.
Viewed 63925 times since 2/17/2011.

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Face Value Anti-Bullying Activity

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Previous Comments:

Anonymous

This is very interesting, and I like this idea. I have not tried it yet, but I think that it would be interesting to do since our middle school has, say, about medium bullying. (they cuss a lot)

Jeff Grey

What video would you recommend showing to 4th, 5th and 6th grade?

Bville

Great activity! Our 4th 5th and 6th graders responded well to this activity and really felt their face value. We follwed it up with a quick video clip about bullying and the feedback from the students was very meaningful.



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