Hiring an Elementary Anti-Bullying Speaker in Los Angeles: What Should Your School Look For?
A successful K–5 anti-bullying assembly should leave children with actions they can remember, not simply a slogan they forget after lunch.
Explore Elementary Programs Call 1-866-333-4553
Start With What You Want Students to Do Differently
If your Los Angeles elementary school is considering hiring an anti-bullying speaker, begin by deciding what success should look like after the assembly.
Do you want kindergarten students to know how to identify a trusted adult? Do you want second graders to understand how a good friend acts? Do you want fourth graders to stop laughing when someone is being humiliated? Do you want fifth graders to understand that reporting repeated harmful behavior is not the same thing as trying to get someone in trouble over a minor disagreement?
Those are practical outcomes.
A speaker who only tells children that bullying is bad has not necessarily given them anything new. Most elementary students already know adults disapprove of hurting others. The challenge is helping students recognize social situations in real time and make a safer choice when emotions, friendships, fear, or peer approval are involved.
Ask Whether the Speaker Has a Separate K–2 Program
Primary students learn differently from older elementary students.
A Los Angeles kindergarten assembly should not sound like a fifth-grade presentation with a few difficult words removed. Younger students benefit from shorter concepts, repetition, clear examples, audience interaction, and concrete language.
Jim Jordan’s K–2 presentation is called Friends Helping Friends. Its foundation is friendship, kindness, recognizing unkind behavior, speaking up appropriately, and knowing when to get help from an adult.
That matters because young children may not have the vocabulary to explain a social problem clearly. Giving students simple language can make it easier for them to tell a teacher, counselor, principal, parent, playground supervisor, or other trusted adult what is happening.
A K–2 child should leave with simple questions they can remember:
- Was that kind or unkind?
- Is someone getting hurt or repeatedly picked on?
- Do I feel safe?
- Who is a trusted adult I can tell?
- How can I be a good friend right now?
Grades 3–5 Are Ready for the Upstander Conversation
Students in third through fifth grade are beginning to understand social power in a more sophisticated way.
They notice who gets included, who gets left out, what makes classmates laugh, how rumors spread, how group chats affect friendships, and what happens when a student becomes the focus of attention.
For this age group, an effective anti-bullying speaker can move from general kindness into responsibility.
Jim Jordan’s grades 3–5 program is called Be a Super Hero. One of its central ideas is that students who witness bullying are not powerless. They have safe options.
StopBullying.gov describes an upstander as someone who sees bullying and takes positive action. That action does not have to mean direct confrontation. It can include supporting a targeted student, getting an adult, refusing to participate, changing the social energy around an incident, or showing that harmful behavior is not entertaining.
Los Angeles Schools Should Look for Interaction, Not Just Information
Elementary students spend much of the school day listening to adults explain things. An assembly needs to compete with everything else children are thinking about.
A speaker who relies entirely on slides and long explanations may lose younger students quickly.
Interaction matters because it asks students to participate mentally and physically. Questions, demonstrations, humor, stories, scenarios, volunteers, and call-and-response moments can help students connect an idea to something they recognize.
The purpose is not entertainment for entertainment’s sake. The energy should help carry the lesson.
Do Not Use Fear as the Main Strategy
Elementary bullying prevention should not frighten young children into believing school is a dangerous place.
The more constructive goal is confidence: “If I see a problem, there are things I can do. If something happens to me, there are adults who can help. If someone else is struggling, I can make a supportive choice.”
That message supports a culture of connection rather than fear.
The CDC defines school connectedness as students feeling cared for, supported, and that they belong at school. Positive relationships with both adults and peers contribute to that sense of connection.
K–2 Focus: Belonging
Young students need to hear that everyone deserves a place in the classroom community and that teachers and other adults are available when problems happen.
Grades 3–5 Focus: Influence
Older elementary students should begin recognizing that their laughter, silence, support, reporting, and group behavior can influence what happens to classmates.
Ask the Speaker How Reporting Is Explained
This is one of the most important questions a school can ask.
Children often hesitate to report bullying because they are worried they will be called a tattletale. Others may be unsure whether a situation is serious enough to tell an adult.
A useful presentation should distinguish between trying to get someone in trouble over a small issue and seeking help because someone is being repeatedly harmed, threatened, humiliated, isolated, or made to feel unsafe.
Students should hear that school staff need information in order to help.
Consider What Happens the Day After the Assembly
A Los Angeles anti-bullying assembly may create energy for an hour. The school culture is shaped during the weeks and months afterward.
Teachers need opportunities to refer back to the message. Students need consistent responses when they report concerns. Hallway, playground, lunchroom, bus, and online expectations need reinforcement.
When evaluating a speaker, ask whether the school receives follow-up resources.
Jim Jordan’s elementary program includes materials intended to help schools continue the conversation beyond the presentation.
Should the Same Speaker Present to K–2 and Grades 3–5?
The same speaker can work with both groups, provided the presentations are genuinely different.
The advantage is consistency. Students can hear a common overall message about responsibility and respect while receiving content appropriate for their developmental level.
What should change is the language, examples, complexity, interaction, and expectations.
What About Cyberbullying in Elementary School?
Cyberbullying content should be age appropriate.
Most K–2 students do not need a detailed presentation about social media platforms. The focus at that age can remain on friendship, communication, getting adult help, and treating people well whether the interaction happens face-to-face or through a device.
By grades 3–5, some students have greater access to messaging, games, shared devices, online video, group chats, or social platforms. That makes it reasonable to introduce digital behavior without turning the assembly into a technology lecture.
The principle is simple: a screen does not remove responsibility for how another person is treated.
A Los Angeles Elementary School Hiring Checklist
Before booking a speaker, ask:
- Is there a dedicated K–2 presentation?
- Is grades 3–5 a separate program?
- What will students actually learn to do?
- How is reporting explained?
- Does the speaker teach safe upstander behavior?
- Are students active participants in the assembly?
- Can the school view video of the speaker working with students?
- Are follow-up resources included?
- Can teachers reinforce the same language afterward?
- Does the speaker understand that bullying prevention is larger than one assembly?
Why Prevention Should Begin in Elementary School
Students do not suddenly develop social habits when they enter middle school. Elementary school is where children begin learning how groups operate, how friendship works, how conflict differs from repeated bullying behavior, and what it means to support another person.
Teaching children early gives schools an opportunity to build a shared vocabulary before peer dynamics become more complicated.
That is why Jim Jordan’s elementary approach begins with the youngest students instead of waiting until adolescence.
Jim Jordan’s Two Elementary Programs
Los Angeles schools considering Jim Jordan can choose between two developmentally targeted elementary presentations.
Friends Helping Friends — K–2: friendship, kindness, empathy, recognizing harmful behavior, speaking up, and asking trusted adults for help.
Be a Super Hero — Grades 3–5: bullying recognition, exclusion, bystander and upstander choices, safe reporting, peer support, responsibility, and age-appropriate discussion of online behavior.
You can review Jim’s elementary anti-bullying program and his California school assembly information before contacting the team.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can Los Angeles elementary schools book only the K–2 program?
Schools can contact Jim Jordan’s team to discuss the grade levels they want to serve and the appropriate assembly format for their students.
Is Be a Super Hero intended for younger primary students?
No. Be a Super Hero is designed for grades 3–5, while Friends Helping Friends is designed for K–2 students.
Does Jim Jordan travel for school assemblies?
JimJordan.ca promotes school assembly programs throughout the United States. Contact the team for current Los Angeles-area scheduling and availability.
How do we get pricing?
Call 1-866-333-4553 or email office@reportbullying.com with your school information and preferred dates.
Planning an Elementary Anti-Bullying Assembly in Los Angeles?
Choose a program that treats a six-year-old and an eleven-year-old as different learners. Ask about Friends Helping Friends for K–2 and Be a Super Hero for grades 3–5.
Contact Jim Jordan Call 1-866-333-4553