Timber Trail Elementary celebrates "Week Without Hate"
Article and photo by Lisa Crockett
“I matter.”
This statement echoed through the halls of Timber Trail Elementary School (TTE) during a week-long series of events designed to get students thinking about the feelings of others and strategies for engendering community and good feelings.
“We wanted to take a proactive stance against bullying in our school,” said third-grade teacher Julie Brunaugh. “Our community is filled with many loving students and families and as we ended the year we wanted to set up fun activities that would be meaningful to students.”
Those activities included a special assembly addressing the ways students could show respect for one another: talking with other students, including them, teaching them, and celebrating them. Class time and free time activities like creative writing assignments and lunch-time social activities augmented the message of the week.
“We can do things that make people feel good or we can do things that hurt their feelings,” said fourth grader Graham Avers, a member of the Timber Team – TTE’s version of a student council. “This is great because we’re learning how to respect other people’s feelings.”
The week culminated with a balloon release. To symbolize peace, students wore white and released white balloons with messages of hope and kindness attached.
“Our balloon said ‘Make the World a Better Place’,” said fifth grader Alaina Sampson. “I hope whoever gets that message feels good.”
