Book Title: The Watermelon ShieldAuthors: Rose McCallum (she/her) and Finn McCallum (they/them)Illustrator: mikemotz.comFor ages: 6-10 years (a good read for all ages)Topics: bullying, kindness, compassion, empathy, character development, juvenile self-helpRelated learning areas: social and emotional learning (SEL), well-being/self-confidence, communication/healthy boundaries Continue Reading
How important are relationships in education? Rita Pierson, in her classic TEDTalk, says “Kids don’t learn from people they don’t like.” I thoroughly agree and I would like it mandated that every teacher watches her talk every year! I want to expand her sentiment to include student to student relationships. Continue Reading
Teaching Kindness Changes the Classroom Community!Phrases like “random acts of kindness” and “pay it forward” have become popular terms in modern society. There are even special days dedicated to highlighting the importance of kindness and organizations who specialize in altruism. But why has it become so popular to teach kindness in schools? Perhaps that’s best explained…
My daughter (now 17) completely went against a whole class of girls in junior school that had fallen out with one girl. She would have been on her own if my daughter hadn’t remained friends with her, even though this girl had ganged up on her in the past. I thought it showed a great…
We must support the bully if we want to stop bullying!Bullying! It’s an ugly word because it involves ugly actions. This little word can stir the strongest emotions in people from all walks of life. Why? Because bullying doesn’t discriminate, and a substantial portion of the population have been scared by a bully.Bullying has become…
When I was in second grade I often dealt with a bully from another class. The next year he apologized and said it was because he was jealous of my ‘boyfriend’ who by then had moved on.
I know a young lady in year 10 this year who wasn’t planning on going to the year 10 debutante ball. Instead, she was focused on her year 12 graduation as her parents were paying for it and she would not have to stress. At the start of this year, she noticed a friend of…
This year marks the ten-year celebration of me graduating high school. While the time has certainly passed, the memories that most linger are not of all the homework and tests that were taken, but of the people who at one point made up my entire world. Growing up, and even still now, I have the…
Throughout my life, I have always been the one being bullied, only up until very recently. The beginning of my story starts out in a cafe around where I live. I was with a couple of friends and the next thing I know they’re all giggling and whispering things under their breath and then looking…
. To all those who feel as though there efforts are going to waste, that their kind words are falling on deaf ears or their actions are not appreciated, fear not. For years I have lived with the mindset of: ‘I must be tough and cold to survive in the world’. I frequently talked badly of…
As a divorced Dad, I was collecting my 7 year old daughter from school for our weekly afternoon together. These afternoons I’d pick her up from school, go to horse riding lessons and then onto our local favourite place for waffles and ice cream before taking her back to her mother. This day, she approached…
A few weeks after we launched Ripple Kindness Project’s Kindness Curriculum, I was approached by a year 5 boy who had been part of the audience at the special assembly held at his school.