Sunny’s First Day of School And A Hard Lesson Learned! Written and Illustrated by: Allison Griffies Narrated by: Marie Griffies

“Sunny wake up! It’s time for your first day of school!” Sunny is so excited about his first day that he was up half the night. “Mama, do you think I will make a lot of friends today?” “Well sure you will son. I just know it.” Sunny’s family moved during the summer, and now he is going to a new school with new teachers, new classmates, and a new playground. He has never had to go to a new school before, and he is worried that he won’t like it there. “Alright, it is time for you to catch the bus!” says Papa. “I am sure that you will love your new school. Good luck today, make good choices, and have a lovely first day!” Sunny quickly packs his book bag and runs for the bus stop.

Once Sunny gets to school, he realizes that he has many people in his class. He also notices that the other scallops in the class do not look like him. “Hello class! My name is Mr. Turtle and I will be your teacher this year. I have a few classroom rules I would like to go over. The first rule is to always raise your hand when you have a question or want to say something. The second rule is to be prepared for class every day, and that includes the four P’s: Be Prepared with Pencil, Paper, and a Positive attitude. My final rule is to always respect your teachers and your friends. In my classroom, everyone respects each other and are friends. If anyone ever needs to talk to me, I am always available. Do not be shy to talk if something is bothering you.”

It is time for recess, and all the kids are out on the playground. They all decide to introduce themselves to Sunny. “Hey man, my name is Carl!” “Hey I’m Sandy! What a beautiful first day!” “Johnny, Joey, and Jacob here!” “ I’m Mikey.” “ Hey guys, I’m Sunny. This is a really cool playground.” “ Yeah, we think it is fun. There are many things to play on,” says Carl. Everyone else yell, “Yeah! We love it!” Sunny thinks his first day is going really well. He is happy to make new friends, and they all get along with each other.

Everyone starts running off to play. Mikey starts talking to Johnny, Joey, and Jacob. “Hey did you see the new kid? Why does he look like that? He looks like a little pretty boy!” Johnny, Joey, and Jacob start laughing. “Yeah! Pretty boy, pretty boy. Sunny is a pretty boy!” Sunny was running by them when he overheard them calling him names behind his back. Mikey continued laughing and calling him names, even though he knew Sunny heard him. Sunny becomes very sad, and starts to cry. He then runs over to Mr. Turtle to tell him what happened. Pretty boy

Mr. Turtle sees Sunny coming, and is worried about what might have happened. Sunny stops with tears in his eyes, and says, “Mikey was calling me names and making fun of me!” “What name did he call you, Sunny?” “He was calling me a pretty boy behind my back.” Mr. Turtle realizes that Mikey was making fun of Sunny because he was different than him, and knows this is called bullying. He calms Sunny down, and lets him know that he will talk to Mikey about what happened. He hopes that Mikey will apologize on his own, and decides that he should have a talk with his whole class about how bad bullying other people is.

“Hey, Mikey! I saw what you did to Sunny, and I don’t think that was very nice! You shouldn’t make fun of someone just because they are a little bit different than you.” “Oh yeah, how would you know?” “Because last year, my teacher told us about bullying, and what you did by calling him names is bullying!” Mikey starts thinking about it for a minute, and then remembers that he learned about bullying, too. Carl then asks Mikey, “How would you like it if people start making fun of you? What if they called you Mikey the bully?” Johnny, Joey, and Jacob all start to laugh and chant, “Mikey the bully! Mikey the bully! Mikey the bully!” Mikey doesn’t like them calling him that name, and soon understands how he has hurt Sunny’s feelings. Mikey, the Bully Haha haha

“WHOA! That was fun! I also heard what you said to Sunny, Mikey, and Carl is right!” “I think Sunny is beautiful because of what makes him different. Mikey, I think you are just trying to make friends by making people think you are cool, but it isn’t cool to make fun of other people.” “I just think everyone is beautiful for who they are, including you, Mikey!” “Now go tell Sunny you are sorry for calling him the name, and never do it again.” Johnny, Joey, and Jacob realize that what they did was not right either, and decide to apologize to Sunny as well. Sandy says, “Now lets all get along and have some fun at school!”

Mr. Turtle decided he should talk to Mikey and make sure he told Sunny he was sorry for what he said. “Mikey! Can you come over here please?” yells Mr. Turtle. “Did you call Sunny a name and make fun of him?” “Yes, I did, and I realized that it was not very nice. I wouldn’t want someone to call me names and make fun of me behind my back.” “Well, Mikey did you tell Sunny you were sorry?” “No, but Sunny I am sorry for calling you a pretty boy.” Sunny decided to accept Mikey’s apology. Mr. Turtle explained to the boys that people who bully others do not make friends. Sunny and Mikey both agree and smile at each other. Mr. Turtle calls the rest of the class inside from the playground.

Mr. Turtle thought this would be a great time to address the problem of bullying so everyone will understand his rule about respecting friends. “I wanted to remind all of you that no one is better than the other, and everyone just wants to get along. Bullying is not the key to friendship. You can all become friends without making fun of one another.” “Okay class, today has been a long first day of school, and I hope that many of you are excited about the rest of the year.” Sunny was glad that his first day at a new school was over, and he realizes that he has made many friends. He also knows that he and his classmates learned a very valuable lesson. Bullying other people to make you look cool is not the way to respect others and make true friendships.