Anna age 5, Mrs. Hayse Kindergarten teacher, Beth age 5
Mrs. Hayse, the Kindergarten teacher at a public school has noticed a girl in her class, Anna, playing on the playground. Anna likes to play in the pretend house that is on the playground. She and her friends usually spend all recess in the house. Today Mrs. Hayse noticed that one girl, Beth, was trying to come inside the playhouse and was pushed out of the house by Anna. Following Anna’s lead, some other girls began to exclude Beth as well. Mrs. Hayse walked close to the playhouse, not to tell the girls what to do, but to let them know that she was watching them. The behavior stopped.
The next day, Mrs. Hayse watched again as the girls excluded Beth. Later that day, Mrs. Hayse held a class discussion about recess time. She asked the class what their favorite thing to do was during recess. She asked them what it meant to be friends with someone. This made the children think. They were asked to talk about what a friend was. Mrs. Hayse read the class a book about being friends.
On the next day Mrs. Hayse watched the girls playing at recess. Beth approached the girls again, and was again excluded from the group activity. Perplexed, Mrs. Hayse asked a fellow teacher what to do about the situation. The teacher replied that it might be a good idea to not allow the girls back in the playhouse for a few days until they could learn to get along. After careful consideration, Mrs. Hayse decided that wasn’t the best plan of action, since it might stop the girls from not allowing Beth into the playhouse, but it would not stop them from excluding her from other activities.
Instead Mrs. Hayse decided to have the class put on a play about friends and bullying. She asked Anna to play the part of the girl being bullied. Mrs. Hayse played the part of the bully with several of the other girls in the class being her friends, who were to follow her lead, just as they had Anna’s in the days prior. After the play, Mrs. Hayse asked Anna how that she felt in that situation. The class held a discussion about being bullied and what a bully is. They talked about how it might feel to be a bully and also how it might feel to be bullied. They read a book about a boy who was bullied on his way home from school.
Mrs. Hayse decided to take this project one step further. She also moved the children’s desks around in the classroom. She put Anna and Beth at the same table and moved some of the other girls away. This gave Anna and Beth a chance to get to know one another.
Two weeks later, Mrs. Hayse watched the girls playing on the playground as she did everyday. This time, all of the girls were playing well together.
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Bully Solutions
