VALPARAISO | Memorial Elementary School fourth-graders report hearing names like "stupid," "idiot," "weirdo" and "showoff" used in their school.

Principal Greg Wilson says hurtful names like "fat" and "retardo" also get thrown around.

"We used to say, 'Kids will be kids.' We don't want 'kids to be kids,'" Wilson said during Thursday's Mix It Up lunch, one activity of No Name-Calling Week.

During the lunch, students sat with a new mix of kids.

"Trying to make new friends, I guess," fourth-grader Jake Goldsmith said.

"It's a good idea because you get to talk to people you don't normally talk to," Mia Haller said.

"I got to meet one girl I don't really hang out with that much," Meghan Lomas said. "She was really cool."

Are there problems with name-calling at Memorial?

"It's not perfect," Jake said.

Meghan said she hears some name-calling, but it's mostly friends messing with each other. She hadn't heard any name-calling for days into the special week.

And do you call people names?

"At home," said Haley Hanlon. "My sister." They call each other weird names in Polish, the language of their family's heritage, Haley said.

But at school?

"No, not really," she said.

Do people call you names?

"People call me 'Shorty,'" Jake said with a big smile. "I don't think they're trying to be mean to me."

"You don't have to love everybody; that's not the goal," Wilson said with a laugh after the lunch. Instead, the goal is for students to respect and get along with each other.

Since the district's elementary schools started last year the anti-bullying program Creating A Safe Social Climate In Our Schools, students have the ability and the vocabulary to identify not only bullies and victims, but the bystanders or the KIM -- the kid in the middle -- who can help out.

"Our climate with the kids has changed," Wilson said.