John Purcell/Recorder staff

Tecler elementary school students pose for a photo Monday after participating in a bullying prevention workshop facilitated by Puppets in Education puppeteers.

By JOHN PURCELL

Recorder News Staff

Puppets Claire and Eddy visited William B. Tecler Arts in Education Magnet School to help students open up about bullying and learn strategies to deal with the behavior.

Puppets in Education, a Vermont-based nonprofit, presented a full day of bullying prevention workshops Monday at Tecler elementary school, along with a combined program for pre-kindergarten to second-grade students about healthy snacking. Mangino Chevrolet helped fund the educational program and donated 10 puppets for the school to keep.

Tecler Principal John Miller said the school was happy to host the program because it assists in promoting a positive culture in the building.

“What I hope the kids get out of the event today is students continue to become problem solvers and continue to practice what

they’ve learned in coordination with The Leader in Me initiative,” Miller said. “We want to promote healthy relationships amongst the students and staff and that sense of collaboration.”

A separate bullying prevention workshop was held for each third- to fifth-grade class. The workshop started with the puppets Eddy and Claire discussing bullying and how everyone is responsible in stopping bullying. Students then discussed what bullying is and learned a variety of strategies to use if they are a target of bullying behavior.

Pre-kindergarten to second-grade students interacted directly with the puppets to talk about bullying while older students talked directly with Karen Sharpwolf, program director and master puppeteer, and Sarah Vogelsang-Card, operations director and puppeteer.

Sharpwolf said the programs encourage children to problem solve and the puppets serve as vehicle for children to think about their choices, as well as discuss problems and solutions. She said talking directly to a “child” puppet can be more effective for younger students rather than talking directly to an adult.

“They tend to want to talk to a kid more than an adult sometimes,” she said. “For the younger kids, they spend their time talking to the puppets and asking them questions and giving them suggestions.”

Many children were engaged during the event and some students asked the presenters when they’d come back to the school, Sharpwolf said.

“A lot of kids have wanted to participate, volunteer and be a part of the activities,” she said. “They’ve been super excited about the gift of the 10 puppets.”

Puppets in Education will provide the school with information about how to be a puppeteer, so teachers and staff can continue programs facilitated by the puppets, according to Sharpwolf. She said the puppets can help children role play various scenarios to tackle problems in a safe environment.

“We encourage them to explore topics that are deeper because that’s what we do with our puppetry,” she said, “But if all they do is decide that they just want to enjoy the puppets and have fun with them, that’s great, too.”

Miller said the school tries to find the best way to reach each student and the puppets could help make more of an impact with some children.

Sharpwolf said many children have become excited about ventriloquism following the latest season of “America’s Got Talent!”

where a 12-year-old singing ventriloquist, Darci Lynne Farmer, was voted the champion.

This is the first time Puppets in Education has delivered programs in the Greater Amsterdam School District, but the organization is in its 36th year and serves more than 8,000 children and adults annually, according to the organization.

A coalition of Upstate NY Chevy Dealers, which includes Mangino Chevrolet, helped expand the puppet programming to 12 new schools this year. Puppets in Education is a program of Vermont Family Network.

The nonprofit started as Kids on the Block-Vermont in 1982 with four puppets and has expanded to offer 20 programs address a variety of societal concerns, such as bullying, abuse, childhood obesity, mental health and drug usage.