The week (year) of respect at Brunswick Acres
By Neel Desai and Lisa Rogol, Brunswick Acres Administration
When adults reflect on special events or weeks that they remember from elementary school, The Week of Respect is probably not a part of that recollection.
However, it is a special week in New Jersey Schools and one that students and teachers look forward to celebrating each year. When the NJ State Legislature approved the Anti-Bullying Act in January of 2011, part of that law provided for a "Week of Respect" to be observed in schools during the first week of October.
This year the Week of Respect runs from October 6-10. At Brunswick Acres School, the Week of Respect will be a celebration of our school community, with multiple events taking place throughout the week at all grade levels.
One motto that is unique to Brunswick Acres and that will be used during the Week of Respect is "The BA Way."
This acronym for Words and Actions You’re Proud to Display is a mainstay of the Brunswick Acres community.
As a way of unifying students around a shared goal, posters with this acronym adorn our classrooms and it is something teachers and specialists reference with students to promote respect year-round.
It is given extra emphasis during the Week of Respect.
During the Week of Respect, students at all grade levels will be participating in activities to discuss respect and "The BA Way."
Under the guidance of our School Assistance Counselor, Jackie Turner, classrooms will all have an activity each day to complete that focuses on respect.
For example, students will be watching a short video clip that discusses the power of words. Students will also complete an art project that will be up on display for the whole school to see.
In addition, all students will be receiving a bookmark, which details 10 ways to be kind, thanks to the generous support of our PTO.
By having all students complete the same set of activities, our community understanding of respect and its many forms strengthens, creating a shared language that any student or staff member can use to discuss respect both during the Week of Respect and afterwards.
Brunswick Acres believes strongly that the home-school partnership is an integral part of any school’s success. To that end, Brunswick Acres will be holding a parent workshop entitled, "Harassment, Intimidation, Bullying: What Parents Need To Know" on Tuesday evening, October 9 as part of our PTO meeting.
Led by Ms. Turner, this workshop will explain in detail the Harassment, Intimidation, and Bullying policy, the community that Brunswick Acres fosters as a way to prevent bullying instances, and ways parents can speak to their children at home to teach about character education.
The culminating event of The Week of Respect at Brunswick Acres will be our assembly and Walk-a-Thon on Friday, Oct. 10.
Sgt. Gene Rickle from the South Brunswick Police Department will be coming to Brunswick Acres to speak about the importance of showing others respect both in school and in the community.
The assembly will also include a small skit, performed by 5th grade students, based on the book Penelope’s Imperfect-People-Eating Machine.
This book teaches the importance of accepting others for who they are and learning to show respect to everyone. Following this assembly, Brunswick Acres students will be participating in a community building Walk-a-Thon.
Students will walk together as a community, and then will participate in cooperative games and dances, taught by our Physical Education teachers, Mrs. Renee Schneider and Ms. Heidi Carlson.
Students are looking forward to being together as a community to have some fun!
Although respect is a concept that we promote each and every day at Brunswick Acres, the Week of Respect provides us a way to "shine a light" on our words and actions for a concentrated period of time.
As we reflect on our words and actions during this school year, we will remember back to the events and activities that took place during the Week of Respect and always make sure that we are following "The BA Way."