Jennifer Geller and Virginia Rivero K-2
P.S. 6 Literature

King of the Playground
By Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Illustrated by Nola Malone

Kevin is afraid to go to the playground! Every time he goes there, Sammy comes over and starts bullying him. Kevin eventually learns that Sammy can’t do all of the things he says he is going to do.

SEL Understandings

• Knowing that there are many ways to deal with bullying
• Knowing how to assess the risk of confronting someone.
• Learning to work for peaceful solutions
• Understanding the impact of words and tone of voice
• Understanding what statements fuel a conflict and what statements solve a conflict
• Recognizing the difference between bullying and teasing

Objectives

SEL:
1. Students will recognize they can stand-up to bullies
2. Students will review strategies that they can use with bullies
3. Students will learn how to assess risk of confronting a bully in a strong but not mean way.

Literacy: Children will learn from the father-child interaction how to find out the difference between fact and exaggeration.

Pre-reading

Review previously-learned strategies for asserting oneself and then ask,
What is a bully?
Have you ever been bullied? Where?
How did you feel?
Do you think only children can be bullied?
Say, "Dealing with a bully is different than dealing with a friend because a bully wants to push your buttons and get you upset and will do it over and over. A friend may also hurt your feelings but it is usually because she or he is upset with you. I want you to listen to a story about a bully and think about how the boy who is being bullied learns how to deal with the bully."

Discussion Questions

How do you think Kevin is feeling?
Do you think the threats that Sammy makes are threats that he can carry out? Why or why not?
Kevin seems to go to his Dad for advice. How does this help Kevin? Why do you think Kevin feels braver (page 17) at this point in the story?
Why do you think Sammy bullies Kevin?
How does Kevin “stand-up” to Sammy?

Activity

Teach the art of questioning as a way to assess risk and as a way to confront a bully in a non-violent way. First point out how Kevin's father used questions to help Kevin assess risk. Tell the class that your puppet (you may substitute another adult or even an upper grade student who has been prepped) will pretend to be Kevin. They will pretend to be Kevin's father and ask Kevin questions to help him think about whether the bully's threat is an exaggeration or not. Model the process first by using your "Kevin" to voice one of the threats in the story (e.g. he will dig a hole and out me in it) and asking "Kevin" questions to explore the threat. Risk assessment questions usually consist of questions such as:
1. Has this person ever done this to anyone before?
2. Has this person ever done this to you?
3. How long ago did this person do it and how often did she or he do it?
4. If this person has done it before, is there anything about you or this situation which might prevent this from happening again?

After modeling, have children ask "Kevin" questions after he makes the following statement:
"Sammy said that I had to give him a dollar or he was going to tell the teacher that I broke the window of the principal's office" (the window had actually been broken by a baseball that high school students had hit from the schoolyard).

Help students to formulate questions and encourage them to piggyback on each other's questions. When asked a question, Kevin should answer honestly but remain frightened for awhile until several questions have helped him assess the actual risk.

When finished, tell students that asking questions of a bully is one of the best ways to confront a bully because the bully is expecting them to run or fight but not to ask questions. The most powerful questions are often ones that repeat back whatever the bully says but asking in a tone of voice that is really inquiring. Demonstrate this approach with your puppet:

Bully: Hey Kid, how would you like a punch in the mouth?
Kid (In a strong but not mean voice): Why would you want to punch me?
Bully: I don't like you.
Kid: Why don't you like me?
Bully: Uh…uh…because you are short.
Kid: Why do you think I am short?
Bully: Uh…uh…because you're stupid.
Kid: Why do you think I am stupid?
Bully: You…don't…You don't know anything.
Kid: Why don't I know anything?
Bully: Uh..uh…I…I…aw, forget it (exits).

Have student applaud your puppet as it takes a bow. Invite volunteers to come up to the front and role-play Sammy and Kevin. Use the statements that Sammy makes in the book but this time Kevin will use the questioning strategy to "throw" the bully off balance. If the Kevin character has trouble coming up with questions, he can have an ally come up and whisper in his ear. If there is time, ask students to pair up and try out the strategy on the last two statements that Sammy makes in the book.

Processing questions:
1. What did you like or not like about the questioning strategy?
2. Could you see yourself using this strategy in the playground? Why or why not? How could you figure out if facing the bully was too risky?
3. If it was too risky what else could you do?

Classroom Extension

• Role-play other strategies using the Sammy-Kevin situation (e.g. I-Messages, using humor, ignoring, telling an adult, being with a friend or ally, etc.).
• Play the SEEME game (see activity for book, Crow Boy).
• Develop questioning skills by playing games. One game is To Tell the Truth. Three students are contestants. Two make up false stories about themselves and one tells the truth. Other students must ask questions before guessing who is telling the truth. Another great game is Twenty Questions. One student asks who or what am I (categories can vary from Animals to Famous People)? Class has 20 questions to figure out the answer.
• Integrated Learning - Have children brainstorm Big Questions they would like answered (e.g. Why is milk white? What makes waves? Use the questions to teach the students simple research skills, which they will use to find out answers to their questions. At the same time teach students about people in history and science who asked Big Questions. This unit might also introduce learning of simple punctuation marks.

Home and Family Connection

Ask families to discuss past bullying experiences. When were they either a bully, victim or a bystander? How did they feel? What did they do? Would they do anything differently now?

Teacher Reflection

Have you ever been bullied? What prevented you from standing up to this person? Would you do things differently now? Think about your students. Are there any students in your classes that you see could possibly be bullied?