For the month of February, Meadowlark is challenged to create a chain of kindness. Here is our chain, and it is growing every day! Here is one act of kindness that you will enjoy. One student was passing out napkins for a student's birthday, and I noticed he was being random with his napkin passing. I told him that it would be easier (and quicker) to pass them all out at a table before moving to the next table. He says to me, "I know, I'm just serving the ladies first." My heart melted! Please read further to learn more about K-3's challenge. :) Happy reading! I think we have all heard a thing or two about random acts of kindness. In fact, there have been several times where I have been running late, and rushing to Starbucks to grab that quick coffee because I had no time for breakfast that morning. The funny thing? As I was grumbling, I had no idea that the person in front of me at the drive-thru had already paid for my drink that morning. Coincidence? I think not! I feel that sometimes we too often focus on the negatives, that we forget about the positive impact that we can have on people! Since I spend much of my time working with kids, I started reflecting on how I could use a positive attitude to portray to my kindergarteners. Yes, much of my job is teaching reading, writing, and math, but my job is to also teach these young minds how to be successful and active participants in society. We regularly sit down and talk about ways to make friends, how to play with friends, how to apologize, and much more. At the beginning of the year, we participated in the Think Kindness Campaign, where the entire school was challenged to do acts of kindness throughout the week. I wanted to go further, though, seeing how happy these acts of kindness made the kids feel. A friend and former co-worker of mine tried a year long kindness challenge. I decided that we would try it, too, as it is important to teach kindness early. I bought a wire wreath from Jo-Anne's, and asked for parents to donate any kind and type of ribbon they had. I was not disappointed when I started receiving colorful, patterned ribbon of all shapes and sizes! I was ready to get started with our class challenge! We sat down for our weekly class meeting, and I asked the question, "What does it mean to be kind?" I received many responses including: asking friends to play, shaking hands and greeting others, saying nice things, etc. I then asked what it meant to commit a random act of kindness. I didn't receive as many responses, so I talked about how sometimes we do kind things not to get noticed, but because we know it is the right thing to do. Our brains tells us what is right and wrong, and when we do something kind, we are happy! The kids then spurted out wonderful things we could do to be kind. I introduced the kindness wreath challenge. Our challenge? To fill the ENTIRE wire wreath with ribbons, which symbolizes our kind acts in and out of the classroom. The catcher was that each act HAD to be random. If a student does something kind, they cannot come up to me and say what they did. They had to have been seen by someone else, who would then come to me and ask if they can put a ribbon on. It was tricky at first, but now, I have kids coming to me telling me things that others did for kids in different classrooms! So here we are, halfway through the year. I wanted to show the progress we have made. Everyone supports each other, cheers each other on, and compliments each other on the things that are done well. I could not be happier with this challenge! We have not only become friends with each other, but we have also become a small family who supports each other. I hear small compliments daily. I see everyone treating each other kind. I see love. Everyday.
I can't wait to show you our finished wreath! I have a feeling that it will be full before the end of the year!
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January 2018
AuthorI sing, dance, and laugh my way through life! I love to teach, but my desire is to always learn more. I am truly blessed with the life I have! Categories |