Students participate in World Kindness Week
Students show off their T-shirts to promote kindness in the schools.
Throughout the week of January 25-29, 2021 students in Ms. Tinker’s high school classroom completed kind acts. The previous week, the class had learned about the Great Kindness Challenge through the New-2-You newspaper, a resource used in her social studies class. Utilizing their website, the class began brainstorming ideas, developed a Kind Act Checklist and got to work.
Students completed some of the activities independently, while others were accomplished as a group. Here are some examples of the projects: Mr. Tsnagaris’ independent study course members helped students to create “Be the Nice Kid” T-shirts; students wrote positive affirmations on hearts and handed them to students and staff; students created a thank-you note for all the teachers and included three Tootsie Rolls (one for each of the students that made the thank-you note); students performed a TikTok dance and asked others to join in; students learned jokes and shared them with people throughout the building.
Staff and students throughout the high school love the project and appreciate the efforts of the students. These acts will continue throughout the entire school year.
The program has helped promote positive social interactions among the students. Collaboration, communication and other skills are also enhanced with some of the acts being completed with other students. The students loved it! They were really excelled with the checklist and began to do the kind acts independently. In fact, one student began giving compliments to his peers and teachers throughout the school, while another student who typically walks through a door and does not hold it for anyone, started to hold the door for everyone. These kind acts help students become more aware of the people around them.
“Having more kindness in the world is a great thing,” commented Mrs. Tinker. “I believe that kindness is contagious – the more kind acts my students do, the more it will catch on with the rest of the school.” In addition, Tinker added that kindness is good for the body. It has been shown to increase self-esteem, empathy and compassion, and improve mood.
There are already plans to move forward with the program, having students complete kind acts throughout the entire school year. “Due to my students participating, we are now considered a Kindness Certified School District,” Tinker explained.