Dobbins’ tree people branch out

Students at Dobbins’ Elementary are all about complimenting each other.

Chris Roussos’ second-grade class meets under a tree in their classroom twice a month to admire each other’s attributes. Each student anonymously picks the name of one of their classmates and is given the task of watching them and recording what makes them special.

Roussos was inspired by the book “Stop Teasing Taylor!” by Jana Carson. The book deals with topics such as bullying and name calling. In the book, the students form a group called “tree people” and instead of teasing each other, they compliment each other.

Since Dobbins has a zero tolerance for bullying, Roussos decided to implement the “tree people” idea into her classroom.

Cierra Craig said she has problems with performing push-ups. Her compliment to a fellow student dealt with how they helped her.

“You’re funny and nice and make me feel better when I can’t do a push-up,” Craig said.