Get Along Monsters

K-Gr 4—The bright cartoon Get Along Monsters and a female host teach children about the pain that name-calling can cause. A series of short live-action vignettes present various scenarios that feature ethnically diverse boys and girls in the roles of both aggressor and victim. Students are presented with three good ways to deal with the problem: speak out and tell people you want them to stop, pretend not to care, stand up for a friend who is dealing with the situation. These are good strategies that should work well when the problem is minor. However, in a school setting, if the first strategy doesn't work, a teacher should be informed immediately. Bullying cannot be tolerated and sometimes an adult's intervention, or at least awareness of the situation, is key to solving the problem.—Teresa Bateman. Brigadoon Elementary School. Federal Way, WA