Bullying

When you think of bullying you think of middle school age, or high school, but not with little Kindergarteners. The last couple of days my CT has been notified by parents at her conferences that some kids felt that they were being bullied by some children in the classroom. Once she found this out, she decided to try to go at this head on. Right before sharing time today she chose to talk about the bullying that may be going on. My CT said I want to talk about something that when I heard it broke my heart. I have heard that some of you may be feeling teased or bullied, and if that is true I am sorry. I want you to know that that is not okay and that it should not be happening. If you feel that it has been happening and you want to fix it, please raise your hand. Do not use any names, because this is not a time to tell on anyone. She then said that this is a safe place, and she is someone they can come to. If they did not want to say anything in front of anyone that they could come and talk to her later. Then some students talked about some times that they have felt bullied and she talked about ways that they could fix the problem. Other times that it was something that could not be fixed right away she asked if they would come and chat with her about the issue at a different time. An hour later one child was bullying another child but when she confronted the child about it, the child lied and said that they didn't do it. They then began to yell at her saying that she never believes them and she is just mean. A couple of minutes later he accidently  admitted to doing it. With this child it has been happening often, and to multiple kids. She told me after class that she emailed his mother about the incident, the mother said that she has been getting yelled at also. The CT is doing a wonderful job of attacking the problem head on, calmly and rationably. I just wonder what other things could she do to make sure that not only this child stops bullying, but others? Some students are just not feeling like they can tell anyone just because the kid might retaliate, or it isn't a safe place. This breaks my heart because if it is starting at such an early age what is going to stop them from doing it in the future? What can we do as educators to prevent bullying at such an early age?