Several weeks ago in guidance class the focus was on random acts of kindness.  Children brainstormed kind acts that they could do to make someone else feel good.  Katie Babic wrote each of these down and put them in a jar for us. We have been pulling one act from the jar each day with the challenge of practicing that act by the end of the day.  Some of our acts of kindness have included saying hello to someone with a smile, helping a friend, including other kids when you are playing, doing a really great job cleaning up, asking someone how their day is going, telling someone how you feel when they are kind to you, or giving someone a compliment.  These are all simple acts that can make a very big difference not just in one person's day, but in the overall tenor of the classroom.

This emphasis has also inspired other acts of kindness throughout our days. Children have been so eager to report their acts of kindness that we changed our"perseverance" poster to a "kindness" poster, adding stickers each time an act of kindness is reported.  However, this time children can't report their own kindness, they must report a classmate's kind act.  On Wednesday morning during ECO our focus was on kindness for the animals in the forest and we left them gifts of cranberry and cheerio garlands and birdseed "lollipops" to help them through the cold days. 

Being a good sport

Helping a classmate

Cleaning up

Organizing shoes

Including friends

Sharing gifts with the animals