The Fair Haven School District marked its recent Week of Respect with activities and new initiatives designed to encourage kindness and acceptance.

The state-mandated week-long designation, featuring respect-inspired activities from Oct. 5 to 9, showcased Laraine Gaunt at Viola L. Sickles School on the first day. Gaunt kicked off  new yearlong initiative dubbed It’s OK 2B Different.

Gaunt, an educator whose grown children had attended Sickles, helped to create the program. She spoke to students in pre- kindergarten through third grade about the importance of respect.

“Treat others the way you want to be treated,” Gaunt told the students. “Be a buddy, not a bully, and you will soon learn everything it takes to be a good friend.”

It’s OK 2B Different is based on the premise that teaching young children respect for individuals (even the bully) will promote understanding and tolerance before bias, hate, and prejudice can occur. “The color of love is always the same in the eyes of a child …” is the program’s philosophy.

It’s OK 2B Different got its official start at Sickles School in 1978, when it was written and introduced by the school’s administration, teachers, and parents. The yearlong program makes teaching tolerance in elementary schools an essential priority, and includes three sections: Embracing Differences, Making Friends and Buddies Not Bullies.

The It’s OK 2B Different initiative will complement the tenets of the Responsive Classroom Philosophy already in place at all grade levels in Sickles School – Pre-K and Kindergarten (Be a Buddy, Not a Bully), First and Second Grade (Understanding Disabilities), and Third Grade (Celebrating Cultures).

Daily themes at Sickles School during Week of Respect and the suggested accompanying wardrobe choices for students and staff were:

• Monday, “The Choice for Me Is To Be Respectful – blue, to celebrate World Day of Bullying Prevention;
• Tuesday, Bands of Respect – headbands, bandannas, or wristbands;
• Wednesday, Let Respect Sneak into Your Speech! – sneakers;
• Thursday, Be a Fan of Respect – A team jersey or sweatshirt;
• Friday, Living With Respect Is No Sweat – sweatshirts, sweatpants, or sweatbands.

At Knollwood School, students in fourth through eighth grades participated in activities focused on respect for the environment, community, and one another.

One such activity was Mix It Up at Lunch Day on Wednesday, Oct. 7 for sixth through eighth graders.

Each student was provided with a strip of colored paper and directed to sit at a lunch table featuring that color. Through this event, students got to know one another better and made new friends.

“With staff members on hand to guide conversations, this activity was truly a hit,” Knollwood School Counselor Cara Remmert said.

On Wednesday and Thursday, the school’s Student Leaders visited fourth and fifth grade classrooms to read aloud from books based on the theme of respect.

Knollwood School students and staff commemorated different facets of respect with theme days and corresponding wardrobe colors – Monday, peace (blue); Tuesday, empathy (orange); Wednesday, honesty (yellow); Thursday, loyalty (purple); Friday, trust (Green).

Members of the Student Leaders group also cleaned up a different area of the school building each day.

The Student Leaders at Knollwood School have begun a Kindness Committee and plan to lead a schoolwide kindness initiative this year.

An anti-bullying assembly for Knollwood students will also be presented in the coming weeks.

— Edited press release from the Fair Haven School District