This past week, the kindergarten through fifth grade students at BPY were lucky enough to watch the performance of the puppet show, “Helping Drew,” written by Alex Ishkanian. This was a continuation of the lesson that the children were learning on MLK Day, which was to teach the students to treat each other with respect.

“Helping Drew” is the story of Drew, who is picked on and bullied by a couple of classmates just because he is different. The school principal, Mrs.Tector, takes great pride in her school being a place of tolerance and respect for all students. She encourages the audience to act as her “bully patrol” and to keep their eyes open for anyone being bullied or treated unfairly. Two students in particular, Lee and Victoria are especially mean. Mrs. Tector learns what has been happening and speaks with each student about making changes in their behavior and to tell an adult when feelings are being hurt.

This was a wonderful lesson for BPY students to engage in conversation about what it means to be kind, and how they can teach each other and learn from one another how to treat each other with respect, and that it’s okay to be different!