Teaching kindness in the classroom is important no matter what grade you teach. Much like it is important to teach reading and writing, it is important that teachers demonstrate to students how to be kind to others and recognize others being kind.
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Here are a few ideas for teaching kindness in the classroom:
Sarah from Sarah J Creations created the Kindness Club Challenge. It was originally an idea for her daughters at home, but something that can easily be adapted to the classroom. Through the Kindness Club Challenge, students focus on different ways to be kind each day. Read the blog post from Sarah J Creations for more kindness ideas!
Elyse from Proud to Be Primary encourages her students to perform random acts of kindness. One such way that students can do that is by using her SMILE-a-Gram sticky notes. Students write a compliment and place it on another student’s desk without being noticed. Read the blog post from Proud to Be Primary for more kindness ideas!
Jeanine from Think Grow Giggle uses a monthly Random Act of Kindness Calendar to encourage a classroom community of kindness. Her students check the calendar to view the suggested kind act and discuss their progress during morning meeting. Read the blog post from Think Grow Giggle for more kindness ideas!
Jodie from Growing Book By Book has an idea of using kindness postcards. This is an idea that she uses with her own kids, but this can be used in the classroom as well. One way to use this in the classroom is to just have your students exchange postcards with each other. Another idea would be to get the names of all the students from the school and have your students write postcards to other students. In Jodie’s idea, her kids choose people from the phone book. By having your students write postcards to students randomly throughout the entire school population, your students will really get to spread the kindness all around. Read the blog post from Growing Book by Book for more kindness ideas!
Erin from Inspired Elementary encourages her students to compliment each other by using a compliment box. Students can write compliment cards during the day when they see a fellow classmate doing something kind. Read the blog post from Inspired Elementary for more kindness ideas!
Sara from The Colorful Apple celebrates the Great Kindness Challenge all week long. Throughout the week, her students complete kindness challenges, create helping chains, and write cards. Read the blog post from the Colorful Apple for more kindness ideas!
Shannon from Teaching To Love (http://www.teachingtolove.com/2014/02/random-acts-of-kindness-secret-agent.html) encourages her students to be secret agents as they perform random acts of kindness. They have to sneak around and be kind to their classmates without being caught. Read the blog post from Teaching to Love for more kindness ideas!
How do you teach kindness in your classroom? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
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