Miranda Sirimis & Danielle Alu

Third Grade

Lawrenceville Elementary School

Ms. Gallagher
TCNJ Lesson Plan
Anti-Bullying

Guiding and/or Essential Questions

How can you be an upstander in your everyday life, both inside and outside of the school
setting?
Why is it important to stand up for others?
How does being an upstander improve our classroom and school community?
Pre-lesson Assignments and/or Students Prior Knowledge
Students should have already participated in a variety of community building, respect, and antibullying lesson activities throughout the course of their time at Lawrenceville Elementary
School. The class has already established rules, procedures, and appropriate behaviors that they
are to follow when in the classroom. Positive behavior and demonstration of these ideals are
reinforced by awarding select students with shining stars and a table point tally system that the
teacher uses throughout the duration of the school day. Students who have attended this school
since kindergarten, will have likely participated in various respect week activities in previous
years. The school guidance counselor also plays a role in the classroom, and does lessons with
the students periodically on varying topics that pertain to their character education guidelines.
Students should be familiar with the term upstander and have talked about it before in class, but
have not explored the term in depth or on a more profound level.
Common Core State Standards (CCSS)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.3 Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or
feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.3.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-onone, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 3 topics and texts, building on
others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.
NJCCCS 6.3.4.D.1 Identify actions that are unfair or discriminatory, such as bullying, and
propose solutions to address such actions.
Learning Objectives and Assessments
Objectives

Assessments

Students will define what bullying means

and what it means to be an upstander.

The teacher will assess students partner

discussions and responses for appropriate
definitions of bullying and upstander.

Students will identify appropriate

upstander behaviors and explain ways that
they can respond to bullying scenarios that

The teacher will assess how students respond to

bullying scenarios and actions for identification
of appropriate upstander behaviors and how they

they may witness.

support their rationale with explanations. The

teacher assess student responses on post it notes
for ways they can be upstanders.

Materials/Resources
[Read Aloud Book] The Smallest Girl in the Smallest Grade by Justin Roberts
[Online Resource] http://www.tolerance.org/lesson/where-we-stand
PowerPoint slides that say various bullying and upstander scenarios
Cue card signs reading agree, disagree, and not sure.
Overhead projector/Smart Board
Post it notes/slips of paper
Pencils
Poster board (to be made by the teachers after the instruction of lesson once students
written responses have been collected)
Teachers will hold and display the book as the read aloud is being conducted. Pictures
from the book will be shown to the students as the book is being read. After reading the book,
teacher will prop it against the ledge of the whiteboard, where it will remain throughout the
duration of the lesson.
Cue card signs will be placed in three different areas of the classroom prior to the start of
the lesson. They will be placed in areas that students can access easily without significant
crowding and/or obstruction.
The PowerPoint will be set up on the computer prior to the start of the lesson, and will be
projected on the whiteboard at the appropriate time. The teacher will display each slide one at a
time, before moving on to the next scenario.
Teachers will distribute post it notes/slips of paper to the students one at a time while they
are seated at their desks. Both teachers will distribute post it notes to the class. When a student
has finished writing on their post it note, they will raise their hand and a teacher will come
collect it from them.
Lesson Steps
1. Lesson Beginning: Danielle will have the students come sit down at on the rug at the
front of the classroom. She will tell the students to take a few moments to think about
what bullying means and then have students turn and talk to their partners to share.
After a minute or so, Danielle will call the students back to attention. She will ask for
volunteers to share their partners definition of bullying. Danielle will explain to the class
that today they will be learn some ways that they can help if they see bullying.
2. Danielle will introduce the book The Smallest Girl in the Smallest Grade. She will ask
students what they notice about the cover (e.g. a small girl, everyone is different, one girl
has her hand raised) and what they think the book will be about. Danielle will then read
the book to the class, without deliberately stopping.
3. After reading the book, Danielle will pause and exclaim Wow, that was a really
awesome ending! I loved how even though Sally was the smallest girl in the smallest
grade, she made a difference! She will then ask the class what they think about Sally.

After a few volunteers share their thoughts, Danielle will say You know, when I think of
Sally, there is one powerful word that comes to mind. Maybe some of you have heard it
before. She will then unveil a poster paper with the word Upstander on it. Raise your
hand if you have heard of this before. Danielle will have students turn and talk about
what it means to be an upstander. After a minute or so, the teacher will bring the attention
back to the whole group and ask for volunteers to share their (or their partners responses.
She will then share that an upstander means one who speaks up and become involved.
After a few examples, Danielle will then ask students how Sally was an upstander in this
book. She will then explain that the opposite of an upstander would be a bystander which
means a person present but not involved; chance spectator; on looker. Once volunteers
have shared some reasons, Danielle will then announce that the class will take part in an
activity that will help us learn some ways to be an upstander, rather than a Bystander.
She will have students turn their attention to Miss Sirimis, who will be teaching the
second part of the lesson.
4. Miranda will then explain that we are going to do an activity that requires us to use our
thinking and our judgment about how we should respond in a situation where we see
bullying happening. She will explain that she is going to read a scenario to the class
where someone is being bullied. After reading the scenario, she will read the
accompanying action demonstrating how a person watching decided to respond. Students
will then think about the scenario and determine whether or not they agree, disagree, or
are not sure about the action described. The students will then move to the part of the
classroom and stand where the corresponding sign is displayed. Miranda will tell the
students to move to the part of the classroom based on how they truly feel, not based on
where their classmates may or may not be going. Once students have chosen a stance,
Miranda will discuss how the students responded. She will note where the majority of the
students are standing and what most of the classmates think about the action. If there is
disagreement amongst the students, they will be given an opportunity to voice their
opinions. Miranda will then ask the students to provide reasoning for why they feel the
way that they do. For the students that disagree, she will ask what they would do
differently in this situation. For the students that agree, she will ask them to explain why
they think this is a good way to act. She will then turn to the students that are unsure last,
and ask them after having heard their classmates speak, if they would like to change their
position. If there are still some students that are unsure, she will ask them to explain why
they feel this way.
5. The same procedure will follow for each of the four scenarios presented to the students.
Miranda will project the PowerPoint slide with the written scenario on the whiteboard for
the students to follow and refer back to, when responding. For each scenario discussed,
Miranda will ask students whether the person acting was a bystander or an upstander.
6.

Miranda will then dismiss the students to their seats and explain that they are each going
to think of ways that they can be upstanders in their lives. She will pass out the post it
notes to the students and ask them each to write one way they can be an upstander on it.
This will serve a sort of exit ticket for the lesson.

7. Closure: After students have written on their post it notes, they will come up to the poster
and adhere their responses. The poster will be put on display in the classroom for students
to refer back to and remember throughout the rest of the school year as a reminder of
what they learned during this lesson.
Key Questions
What does bullying mean?
What do you notice about the cover of this book?
What do you think this book is about? What are some predictions you have?
What do you think about Sally?
Have any of you ever heard of the term upstander? What do you think it means to be an
upstander?
How does Sally prove that she is an upstander in the book? How is being an upstander different
from being a bystander?
Do you agree, disagree, or are not sure of the way the person in this scenario responded? Why do
you feel this way? If you disagree, what would you do instead?
Was this person a bystander or an upstander? How do you know?
What are ways that we can be upstanders?
Logistics
Timing
Lesson Beginning (What is Bullying?) - 2 minutes
Read The Smallest Girl in the Smallest Grade - 5 minutes
Discussion of book - 3 to 5 minutes
Activity - 10 minutes
Closure - 3 to 5 minutes
Transitions
Danielle will begin the lesson by calling students over to the rug. Here the whole group
discussion will start. After discussing bullying, Danielle will share that the class will learn some
things to do if they see bullying and that we would read a story about this. Danielle will
introduce the book by having students analyze the title and cover to determine what the book is
about, she will then read the story. After reading the story, the teacher will facilitate a discussion
about it and introduce the term upstander and have students share what they think it means. She
will then explain that Miss Sirimis will now explain the rules of an upstander activity!
Miranda will transition to the scenario game, starting with the students seated on the rug
as she explains the instructions. She will introduce the first scenario while they are still seated
and have them move accordingly once it has been read aloud in its entirety. She will then
introduce the following three scenarios successively while the students are still standing in the
section of the classroom from before, and will change or stay in same the same position
accordingly.
At the end of the scenario game, Miranda will dismiss the students to their seats, one
group at a time.

Classroom Management
During the first part of the lesson, the teacher will keep students engaged by alternating
between student listening, turn and talks, and whole group discussion. The storybook is also
short so students should remain attentive for the most part. When the teacher is not reading, she
will positively reinforce whole body listening behavior and redirect those who are either chatting
or distracted. During reading, if some students or the class begins to become distracted, the
teacher will pause in her reading to remind the students about whole body listening and tell
students that she is looking for a shining star.
The teacher will set up the agree, disagree, and not sure posters throughout the classroom
where they are far apart from each other and students have adequate space to maneuver between
them. Before the activity, the teacher will clearly explain the directions and remind students how,
as third graders, they should be in control of their bodies. If a student is either running, acting
wild, or knocking into their friends, the teacher will remind this student of the correct behavior
and positively reinforce those behaviors in others. If after the warning, the student still acts up,
the teacher will tell him/her that they will have to sit out and their clothespin will be moved to
yellow. During the discussion aspects of each scenario, the teacher will address student
volunteers but also ask for the opinions of those who appear as if they are getting antsy on their
feet (fidgeting, hopping, etc.).
Differentiation
Charlie is mildly hard of hearing and wears hearing aids. During the lesson, Danielle will wear
his microphone for the first part (read-aloud and discussion) and Miranda will wear it for the
second part (activity and closure). The lowest reading level in the classroom is third grade, so
students should be able to follow along with the story. The teacher will speak loudly and clearly
while reading though in case students are having difficulty following along. If a student is having
difficulty writing what it means to be an upstander, the student will have the option of drawing
an example of upstander behavior. There are a few students in the classroom who like to move
around often. The activity will allow them to move to a designated spot in the room that
corresponds to their opinion. It will keep students active and engaged!