Back to School: Starting Kindness Clubs

Schools will be opening throughout our country shortly.

Most schools have implemented anti-bullying policies – and hopefully many have anti-bullying clubs.

Anti-bullying Clubs are now being switched up to Kindness Clubs.
This is a great idea since kindness a direct way to combat bullying.  Finding small ways each day to help someone feel good – or finding community projects your club can participate in, spreading kindness needs to be a way of life.
As school opens find out how you can start a Kindness Club in your school or class this year.  Ask your teacher or guidance counselor.  Get your friends motivated and start by listing how you can spread kindness each day:

• Tell a teacher you appreciate them
• Help a student that is being tormented, be an upstander
• Pass out flyers on bullying and cyberbullying prevention
• Leave messages for someone that is feeling down, let them know they are not alone
• Leave messages ‘just because’ it’s nice to do – lift others up everyday
• Tell a janitor what a good job they did
• Smile at people – let them know you notice them
• Make time for those that seem lonely, introduce yourself
• Offer to tutor students that are struggling academically
• Compliment others, (their hair, clothes, their smile) – be kind – it matters
• Eat lunch with new people
• Be sure new students don’t feel like strangers
• Look for community projects to participate in – visiting nursing homes, assisted living centers and teaching them about cyberspace!  CyberSeniors love meeting cyber-mentors!

Need some inspiration?  Visit these websites for ideas: Spark Kindness, Ripple Kindness, iCanHelp, Random Act of Kindness, KindnessCounts, and Pennies of Time.

Bullied: What Every Parent, Teacher, and Kid Needs to Know About Ending the Cycle of Fear

Order today!

By Carrie Goldman

With schools opening across the country, this is a perfect book for parents, teachers and students and is now available in paperback.

The mother of a bullied first grader, popular blogger Carrie Goldman’s inspiring true story triggered an outpouring of support from online communities around the world. In Bullied, she gives us a guide to the crucial lessons and actionable guidance she’s learned about how to stop bullying before it starts. It is a book born from Goldman’s post about the ridicule her daughter suffered for bringing a Star Wars thermos to school—a story that went viral on Facebook and Twitter before exploding everywhere, from CNN.com and Yahoo.com to sites all around the world. Written in Goldman’s warm, engaging style, Bullied is an important and very necessary read for parents, educators, self-professed “Girl Geeks,” or anyone who has ever felt victimized by a bully, online or in person.

Bullied has been recognized with Gold Awards at the 2013 National Parenting Publications Awards and the 2013 Mom's Choice Awards.

Order on Amazon today!

Back to School: Show Your Support to Prevent Bullying This Year at School

It's around the corner!  Schools will be opening.  Parents are already collecting school supplies and getting ready for their child to be back on schedule.

Most know that bullies and cyberbullies never take a break.  While the school yard bullies may have been in the backyard - they will be back at school shortly.

With that let's start school this year with a remind to all our kids that they need to be upstanders! 

Order your STOMP Out Bullying wristbands today and encourage your friends and community to do the same.

Bullying is a choice.  Kindness is also a choice.  Choose to be kind.

STOMP Out Bullying™ focuses on reducing and preventing bullying, cyberbullying, sexting and other digital abuse, educating against homophobia, racism and hatred, decreasing school absenteeism, and deterring violence in schools, online and in communities across the country.

STOMP Out Bullying is a fantastic organization that continues to help thousands of children and families and this is an opportunity be part of their mission in making our world a better place for everyone.

To order your wristbands click here.

Back to School: The Adventures of Everyday Geniuses

Barbara Esham

There is no better way for Baltimore families to celebrate the birthday of Dr. Seuss than to explore books from a local author. Like Dr. Suess, Barbara Esham is a children’s author who recognizes and celebrates the uniqueness of each young mind. 

Recognizing that each child is gifted with individual strengths and challenges, Esham uses children’s literature to reexamine common assumptions about learning and intelligence.

Traditional teaching methods and academic expectations may not effectively facilitate learning for all children. Esham’s ultimate goal is to revolutionize education by redefining the concepts of learning, creativity, and intelligence.

Click Here to Read Article

Sue Scheff: VolunteerSpot Save Parents Time and Hassel at Back-to-School

As massive budget cuts hit schools across country, free online tool makes it easy for parents to help our nation’s teachers


Back-to-school is right around the corner, and due to recent state-wide budget cuts, teachers and schools need parents’ help this year more than ever before. Parents will be asked to step-up and help in the classroom, the campus, and to support fundraisers. VolunteerSpot (www.VolunteerSpot.com), a free online coordination tool, simplifies the volunteer experience and makes it easier for more parents to get involved. Most importantly, VolunteerSpot is a proven success; the online sign up tool increases parent participation by 20% and raises school donation rates, too.

Any teacher or parent-leader can invite volunteers to sign up electronically through VolunteerSpot.com, and in two simple-clicks, parents can sign up for whatever activity and time works for them -- from reading to the class or brining snacks to the Fall party, to helping in library or cafeteria, to staffing important fundraisers like the school carnival or stadium concession stand. VolunteerSpot even sends automated messages reminding volunteers of their commitments. No more “reply all” emails, late night phone tag, or disorganized paper sign-up sheets.

“Back-to-school is an exciting but stressful time for teachers and parent-leaders as they set up their classrooms and prepare for the year’s fundraising activities,” said Karen Bantuveris, Founder & CEO, VolunteerSpot. “It’s our responsibility as parents to help out in any way we can, and VolunteerSpot helps by making it easier for more parents to get involved at school.”

“VolunteerSpot made it so easy to sign up parents to read to my kindergarten class,” says Erin W., of Austin, TX. “I set up the schedule in a few minutes, and VolunteerSpot did the rest. Within 48 hours, all the spots were full and the best part is the kids love seeing their parents in the classroom.”

VolunteerSpot brings the simplicity of an online party invitation to school volunteering and makes it easy for anyone to ask for help. The site also provides unique tools, from free e-books, including the new “Room Parent Survival Guide,” and smart tips on everything from how to throw a successful school carnival or bake sale to Teacher Appreciation Week.

VolunteerSpot recently helped the Carmel Unified School District in California win a $100,000 donation when they were faced with the request to mobilize volunteers for the US Open.  Asked to assemble a team to work approximately 14,000 hours over the course of seven days, the school district enlisted VolunteerSpot’s easy-to-use sign-up sheets, automatic e-mail reminders and organizational tools to ensure that the event went off without a hitch.

 

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 About VolunteerSpot

Based in Austin, Texas, privately held VolunteerSpot (www.VolunteerSpot.com) is a free Web-based organization tool that powers grassroots volunteering at school and in the community. Founded by ‘mompreneur’ and PTA leader, Karen Bantuveris, VolunteerSpot's easy online sign-up tool saves time, streamlines communication and makes it simple for more people to get involved. VolunteerSpot has help organize more than a quarter-million volunteers since its public launch in April, 2009. VolunteerSpot is perfect for coordinating groups for anything - PTA activities, classroom helpers, carnivals and festivals, tournaments, VBS, service projects, mentoring sessions, group campouts, ministry meals, book fairs, swim meets, and more.... VolunteerSpot, DOING GOOD Just Got Easier!!!