Tattling/Reporting

During the month of February, our whole school is focusing on KINDNESS.  This is a great theme for the month as Valentine's Day is on the 14th and Pink Shirt Day is on the 29th. On Feb. 1st we had a presentation called "Stand by Me".  We learned that everyone makes mistakes, but that they can be fixed by taking responsibility for them, apologizing and learning from them. One way of being kind to our friends is not to tattle on them, but to try to help them solve the problem. We work on solving problem skills almost every day.   I also teach the children the difference between tattling and reporting.  Tattling hurts others, reporting helps others.  They should always report to an adult if someone is damaging property or doing something unsafe.  I tell them that it is also okay to tell an adult if they have tried to solve the problem, but they are still having difficulties.  We made Tattle Bugs to take home (and we have one in our classroom).  I explained to the children that even though we try to solve our problems, sometimes we are still upset and need to tell someone our feelings, but we don't want to 'tattle'.  We can tell the Tattle Bug!  I have witnessed quite a few children come in, look up at the Tattle Bug, and tell him about something that is bothering them.  Then they happily skip off, ready for the rest of the day.  I hope it works for you as well as it works for us.
Thank you for the 100 Day Collections!  Our Valentine bags are now ready to be filled if your child is planning on handing them out.
Have a great weekend!
Mrs. T