When primary grade students have a disagreement, one way to allow each child to appropriately express his anger is to sit down and write a letter stating what's bothering him. A child who is not old enough to write can use sticker images such as a giant red "X" or a frown face to convey his frustration. Encourage a student to also include in his paragraph what he wishes his peer had done instead of the hurtful behavior they executed. Sit both children down across from each other during recess or after school and have them read their letters to one another. Facilitate the conversation as needed and encourage students to shake like friends at the end of the meeting.
Students who are old enough to read benefit from turning to local and national newspapers for information and ideas relating to conflict resolution. Begin this activity by breaking the class up into groups of four to five students each and handing out at least one newspaper to each group. Instruct kids to flip through the pages of the paper and cut out articles, phrases, words or images that address peaceful resolution. Kids can also cut out images that are not friendly and draw an "X" through the picture then free-hand draw a secondary image next to it that conveys cooperation. Glue images and text to a piece of poster board and present all projects to the class.
Encourage young aggravated or hurt children to engage in a short role play re-enacting the event that initially caused the problem. Each student is to take on the role of her peer and try to understand the words or thoughts that were stated and any actions that supported those claims. If foul language or inappropriate physical contact occurred, instruct the children to pause and inform the other student how that type of interaction made her specifically feel rather than acting out those portions of the incident.
One suitable exercise that allows you to teach your entire class about right-minded versus wrong-minded words and actions is an activity involving verbs. Instruct the whole group to sit in circle on the floor. Move from student to student encouraging kids to vocalize any incidents of bullying or conflict that they personally either recently experienced or viewed. Keep focused on the task at hand by requesting that kids not identify the applicable individual's names. Even if a student does not have a negative incident to contribute to the discussion instruct him to vocalize a verb associated with love, understanding, tolerance or compassion. This activity is particularly helpful if you are simultaneously experiencing multiple issues in the classroom.