Advisory Update & Follow Up Activities

Dear Families,

Ask your student to talk to you about the Bystander Power suggestions, how labels and stereotypes can be harmful. Please share with your child your experiences with bullying and/or prejudice and stereotyping.  Together we can help our youth stay safe and develop confidence and empathy during the middle school years.

Your student is learning to recognize bullying, whether it is happening to the student or to someone else. We are also taking a closer look at cyberbullying. We are focusing on what students can do about bullying so they can be safe and happy at school. It is important to understand the difference between arguments, incidents, accidents, and bullying. 

Bullying is when one or more people repeatedly harm, harass, intimidate, or exclude another person. Bullying is unfair and one-sided.

We encourage you to continue these conversations with your children at home, and remind them how important it is that: “if you see something, say something.” Also, it could be helpful to remind your child of the following:

• When someone says or does something unintentionally hurtful and they do it once, that’s RUDE.
• When someone says or does something intentionally hurtful and they do it once, that’s MEAN.
• When someone says or does something intentionally hurtful and they keep doing it– even when you tell them to stop or show them that you’re upset- that’s BULLYING.

Buddy Classes are also in full swing. This is a time where students in grades 6th-8th are partnered with younger students in Kindergarten through 5th grade. Together they engage in a variety of activities that give them the opportunity to get to know each other and build relationships. This is designed to build inclusion across grades here at BSI. Advisory is the perfect place to focus on social connections and community building.

Students can be found doing a variety of activities together – reading books, playing math games, singing songs, working on projects, or going on field trips.

These activities are co-created with by students and teachers based on the interests of the group.

We look forward to fostering relationships that will last for many years to come. Click on the link to look at some photos: Advisory Buddies photos

Throughout the year, we would also like to offer some Follow-Ups which are fun, engaging activities you can do with your child and other members of your family. They include Family Projects, Table Talk, and Screen Time activities. These activities are designed to give your middle school child another chance to use new skills learned in Advisory. They are also a way for you get to know more about what your middle school child is learning and a great way to spend some fun time together as a family.

Below you will find some of these activities:

Sincerely,

Ms. Ferguson & Ms. Moshura