"Honk if You Hate Bullying"

 "Honk if You Hate Bullying"

When Jose Lagares found out his 4th grader was bullying other kids, he punished his son.  He grounded him and even made him do hard labor, but nothing seemed to work.  Then Mr. Lagares came up with a creative idea.  He made his son stand on a street corner with a large sign that said: "I'm a bully. Honk if you hate bullies."  Mr. Lagares said "It was just the final straw, and it seemed to work."

When other people found out about this news story, there was a public outcry.  Some people thought this was an awful idea and that Mr. Lagares was bullying his own son.  Others supported Mr. Lagares unusual idea.  But Mr. Lagares still believed in what he did and stood out on the corner with this own sign that said, "I'm not sorry. Honk to stop bullying."

You may read the full article here:  http://www.kcentv.com/story/23602173/bullys-father-responds-to-critics

What do you think about this unusual punishment?  Do you agree or disagree with this idea?  Do you think this idea will help stop bullying?

Your assignment:

Give your opinion and why you feel the way you do.  Write at least 6 or more sentences:

WRITE:

I think Mr. Lagares' creative idea to punish his son for bullying other kids is a good idea.   Making his son stand on a street corner and hold up a sign that says, "I'm a bully. Honk if you hate bullies." will help stop bullying because...

OR:

I think Mr. Lagares' creative idea to punish his son for bullying other kids is a bad idea.   Making his son stand on a street corner and hold up a sign that says, "I'm a bully. Honk if you hate bullies." will not help stop bullying because...

THEN: Explain the reasons that support your opinion.


IMPORTANT: Make sure you have a solid argument. Use FACTS as much as possible to support your opinion.


 HOW TO POST YOUR COMMENT:

1. TYPE YOUR COMMENT INTO WORD AND SAVE IT AS BLOG IN A NEW LEAD FOLDER
2. AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BLOG POST, CLICK ON "COMMENTS"
3. COPY AND PASTE YOUR COMMENT FROM WORD INTO THE BLANK BOX
4. TYPE THE LETTERS AND NUMBERS YOU SEE IN THE SMALL BOX
5. CLICK NAME/URL
FOR YOUR NAME WRITE YOUR FIRST NAME, LAST INITIAL AND BLOCK.
For example: If my name is Rebecca Ekstrom and I have LEAD I2, I would put this for my name: RebeccaEI2
6. LEAVE THE URL BLANK
7. CLICK PUBLISH YOUR COMMENT

(YOUR COMMENT WILL BE POSTED ONCE MRS. EKSTROM APPROVES IT.)

A video from the news can be seen here:  http://www.kcentv.com/story/23584683/kid-learns-lesson-the-hard-way

Photo above taken from:  http://www.thegailygrind.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/bullyys.jpg

Colorado Elementary School Has Controversial Bullying Solution

Colorado Elementary School Has Controversial Bullying Solution (Commenting on a Blog)

 It seems that bullying is on the rise, especially because of the increase of cyberbullying incidents.

One elementary school in Colorado, James Madison Charter Academy, has a creative way to put kids in the shoes of those kids who are bullied, but not everyone is happy about it.

Some students in grades 4-6 have been randomly selected to wear a sticker on their collar, which means other students are told to ignore them.  The school says this will help kids understand what it's like to be bullied and ignored.  One parent says that this has made her child feel even worse at school, because he has been bullied in the past.

Do you agree or disagree with this idea?

Read the article below:

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/11/16/the-controversial-way-a-colorado-elementary-school-is-teaching-students-about-bullying-and-upsetting-some-parents-in-the-process/

Your assignment:

Give your opinion and why you feel the way you do.  Write at least 4 or more sentences:

WRITE:

I think James Madison Charter Academy's unusual approach to bullying is a good idea.   Selecting students to be ignored so they can experience bullying is a good idea because...

OR:

I think James Madison Charter Academy's unusual approach to bullying is a bad idea.   Selecting students to be ignored so they can experience bullying is a bad idea because...

THEN: Explain the reasons that support your opinion.


IMPORTANT: Make sure you have a solid argument. Use FACTS as much as possible to support your opinion.


 HOW TO POST YOUR COMMENT:

1. TYPE YOUR COMMENT INTO WORD AND SAVE IT
2. AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BLOG POST, CLICK ON "COMMENTS"
3. COPY AND PASTE YOUR COMMENT FROM WORD INTO THE BLANK BOX
4. TYPE THE LETTERS AND NUMBERS YOU SEE IN THE SMALL BOX
5. CLICK NAME/URL
FOR YOUR NAME WRITE YOUR FIRST NAME, LAST INITIAL AND BLOCK. 
For example: If my name is Rebecca Ekstrom and I have LEAD I2, I would put this for my name: RebeccaEI2
6. LEAVE THE URL BLANK
7. CLICK PUBLISH YOUR COMMENT

(YOUR COMMENT WILL BE POSTED ONCE MRS. EKSTROM APPROVES IT.)

Image taken from MS Word clip art.

AMS Celebrates its 11^th Annual Read All Day with a Special Guest:

Author Jennifer Roy!

 

Read All Day is a special day set aside to celebrate books, literacy and reading at Algonquin.  AMS Principal Mr. Messia kicked off Read All Day by reading a short story to the whole school, along with a humorous PowerPoint presentation he made for the story.  Special guest readers, (administrators, faculty and students), generously volunteered their time to read to large groups in the auditorium.  Readers included Mr. Rhode, grade 5 Poestenkill Teacher, Mike Ainsley and Logan Fahrenkopf, APHS students, Mr. Bishop, APHS Assistant Principal and Athletic Director, Mr. Anderson, grade 7 Social Studies Teacher at AMS and Mr. Sibson, Miller Hill-Sand Lake Principal.  Teachers also had the opportunity to take a portion of their class to read aloud to their students. 

Award winning author Jennifer Roy was Algonquin’s special guest for Read All Day.  Mrs. Roy lives in Saratoga Springs and is the author of 35 educational books, along with fiction books Yellow Star, MindBlind, Trading Faces, (book one of a series of four books written with her twin sister Julia DeVillers) and Cordially Uninvited.  Generous support for this author visit was provided by Student Council.

Mrs. Roy presented to each grade and spoke specifically about her book, Yellow Star, a fiction book based on her aunt Sylvia Perlmutter’s Holocaust survival story.  Incredibly, her aunt was one of 800 children who entered the Lodz ghetto in Poland, and ended up being one of the twelve children to survive.  During a special Q and A session, Mrs. Roy answered many questions from our curious students.

Students had an opportunity to meet Mrs. Roy and talk with her as she signed their books after school.  She gave Algonquin students, faculty and staff a memorable day they won't soon forget!  

Check out this animoto video to get an inside look at Read All Day: 

http://animoto.com/play/yYYXe6zNY1i5exXXxiktOw

Read All Day was coordinated by Mrs. Ekstrom, AMS Librarian and Mrs. Conti, grade 6 AMS Literacy Teacher.