The October Scoop

Tips & Tidbits

October is Bullying Prevention Month, a month for educators to join together to make sure all students feel safe and supported.
Worldwide, a staggering one-third of young people report being bullied.
Bullying comes in many forms, and its causes are complex and diverse.
The most effective solutions are those that involve the entire community and help create a culture of respect.
Here are some ways you can help:

Model kindness and respect.
Talk about bullying and how to get help.
Challenge students to make friends with someone they don’t know.
Encourage students to support and stand up for one another.
Share stories that help students develop social-emotional awareness and empathy. (Two great examples are in the Book Bag this month!)

Brachio is a touching read-aloud that tells the story of a big dinosaur who protects the small mouse lizards from the chomping, stomping dinosaurs and, despite his size, becomes a target of bullying himself.

Built-in discussion prompts and a social-emotional learning mini-lesson help teachers get the most out of the text and help students develop essential social-emotional skills that combat bullying, such as developing empathy and treating others with kindness and consideration.

We’ve also included a free bonus book this month in recognition of Bullying Prevention Month—Green Feathers, a student and teacher favorite. In this short but powerful book, a chick becomes a target of bullying because his green feathers make him look different from the other chicks in the henhouse. The story provides many opportunities to build social-emotional learning by talking about bullying, kindness, and the importance of appreciating differences of all kinds.

This Take & Teach Book with built-in teaching panels and an additional social-emotional learning mini-lesson can be used for small-group instruction for students at a Level F reading level or as a read-aloud for students at other levels.

JillE Literacy is a unique collection of K-3 resources created to empower teachers with engaging texts and science-based literacy instruction that together make learning to read easy, effective, and fun. JillE Literacy supports teachers with built-in tools and strategies that show how to teach essential literacy skills in the context of vibrant, engaging, humorous texts that children actually want to read. With guidance from educator, author, and international literacy consultant Jill Eggleton built into every page, it’s like having a master teacher and literacy coach beside you every step of the way.