For Marie Sharpe Elementary students Pink Shirt Day was a two-day affair.
On Tuesday all of the students gathered together for an assembly to take turns dipping their hands in pink paint then placing their hand prints on a long banner of newsprint around the words Be a Buddy, Not a Bully.
On Pink Shirt Day Wednesday, the banner filled with the student’s pink hand-prints was put up in the school’s main hallway.
The students spent the morning in their respective classrooms talking about how to counteract bullying and worked on developing slogans promoting positive ways in which to counter bullying and interact with one another.
The older students printed their slogans on pink paper cut-outs in the shape of running shoes. The younger students printed their slogans and drew pictures on the pink paper shaped like T-shirts. The art work was later hung on clotheslines pinned up in the school hallways.
The students came up with all sorts of slogans for their T-shirts and running shoes, some on their own, some reflecting a little coaching from their teachers.
Grade 2/3 teacher Lorene Fennell says the school tries to present students with options for what to do, rather than what not to do, such emphasizing kindness and the old saying: “If you don’t have kind words, don’t say anything at all.”
There were many slogans and positive words to read on the art work such as Be a Buddy, Not a Bully; Ignore people who say you are not good enough; Take a stand, lend a hand; If you are bully free, so are we; Don’t be a bully be a friend; and Stop bullying today; Kindness is helping others.
On Pink Shirt Day students were also encouraged to wear pink.
Principal Calvin Dubray says Marie Sharpe also incorporates other programs into the curriculum all year long to be proactive, rather than reactive, when it comes to counteracting bullying behaviours.
These programs include Zone of Regulation, Positive Action Word of the Week, Fins Friends and 2BBoys and Girl Power.