Anti-bullying program helps form friendships
Neighbors | Sarah Foor .Some of the students involved in the St. Christine anti-bullying program took a look through the positive messages in the self-esteem poems they created with their older fifth grade friends.
Along with the poems they created for each other, the first- and fifth-graders created footstep posters and planted flowers to sow the seeds of friendship. Showing off some of their projects were, from left, Jeffrey Sinclair, Liam Abrigg, Courtney Koken, Kayln Bowman, and Veronica Murchak.
A group of St. Christine School first-graders and fifth-graders gathered to show off some of the self-esteem poems that they made for each other. The students were, from left, Dylan Sztary, Daniel Smith, Derian Mesarios, Anthony Verretti, Anthony Potesta, Laim Abrigg, Jeffrey Sinclair, Anderson Schope, and Jenna Billet.
By SARAH FOOR
This year at St. Christine School, when teachers found that there was an epidemic of teasing between their students, they thought of a simple solution to their bullying problem: Friendship.
Inspired by the book “Have You Filled a Bucket Today?” by Carol McCloud, first-grade teacher Maria Gentile and fifth-grade teacher Rosemary Scrocco decided to have their students work together to garner positivity between the two age groups.
“McCloud’s book is all about filling someone’s ‘bucket’ with compliments and good comments. We wanted to show our kids to be positive using our fifth-graders as role models to the younger students. They show each other respect and what it means to be a good friend,” explained Gentile of the program.
The students meet every few weeks to complete crafts together and talk. They have created self-esteem poems with each other’s names, created posters that show their footsteps walking beside each other, and planted seedlings as a metaphor for sowing the seeds of friendship.
“We all talk about important issues and what it means to be a good friend, but we talk about regular things, too,” said fifth-grader Liam Abrigg.
Abrigg’s first-grade buddy, Jeffrey Sinclair, said they have a love of sports and TV shows in common.
“It’s fun to talk to Liam, and it really helps me to not be afraid to talk to any of the older kids in school,” Sinclair shared.
“I think that is the most important lesson here,” Scrocco said. “The kids have made friends with their partner and an entire classroom of people in this process. We really hope the students will continue to grow toward their eighth-grade year at St. Christine’s together.”