Diva's Day Out!: Tear Down the Negativity!

It was a pretty awesome sight to see 50+ 4th and 5th grade girls circled up in our school gymnasium for our Diva's Day Out program!

To kick off our Diva's Day Out program we spoke to students about relational aggression.  We asked for examples of how girls bully other girls. We received lots of examples, including rolling their eyes, talking behind her back, spreading rumors, not letting her join your group or hang out with you, etc. We explained relational aggression includes ways of being mean or hurtful to someone with by damaging the person's relationships or social status. We talked about different types of bullying (including physical, verbal, emotional, and cyber-bullying) and how relational aggression plays a role.

Get Out the Negativity!
One of our goals for the day was to help foster positive peer relationships among the girls. We also wanted to do an activity to get out the negativity and reward students for positive interactions. We instructed girls to brainstorm a time when she experienced relational aggression or participated in using relational aggression against another girl.

We used a large piece of purple roll paper and instructed girls to use markers to share instances in which they experienced relational aggression or participated in using relational aggression against another girl. We thought this would be cathartic to get it out and tell what they experienced.

Students writing about their experiences with relational aggression.

Here are some examples of some of the things girls wrote:

Tear Down the Negativity!
After all of the girls recorded an instance of relational aggression, we hung the poster on the bleachers.
We explained that during the day the girls would be able to "Tear Down the Negativity" when they experienced a positive situation with another girl.  For example, they could tear down a piece of the "Negativity" if they gave a compliment to someone else or received a compliment.  They could also tear down a piece of "Negativity" if they helped someone do something or someone else helped them.  In order to rip a piece of "negativity" down, they had to find an adult facilitator and explain to them the positive interaction they had.

The girls loved "Tearing Down the Negativity!"

Students tearing down the negativity from the posters

I printed out signs for around the poster (shown above) on AstroBrights card stock. Click on either of the images below to download a printable PDF version of signs.

This post is part of a series on a Diva's Day Out program my co-school counselor and I hosted for 4th and 5th grade girls. During Diva's Day Out students participated in activities focusing on fitness, nutrition, self-esteem, relational aggression, and body image.

Posts about the Diva's Day Out Program:
Diva's Day Out
Diva's Day Out!: Tear Down the Negativity!

Have you ever hosted a Girls Night Out, Boys Night Out, or single gender event? What types of activities did you facilitate?

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Danielle is a K-12 Certified School Counselor, Nationally Certified Counselor, and blogger at School Counselor Blog, a place where school counselors share innovative ideas, creative lesson plans, and quality resources. Connect with Danielle via email, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Google+, and become a fan of the School Counselor Blog Facebook Page.