The Kindness Crew

Welcome to the kindness crew. In our first-grade classroom, we call ourselves, The Kindness Crew. Because, we start off on day one of first grade, and we teach our students to be kind to one another. In my classroom, my rules number five is, treat others the way you want to be treated. And these two go together beautifully. So, we start the year off reading different books about being kind to others, about giving to others in a kind way. Throughout the year, we give our students the opportunity to show random acts of kindness. And some of the ways we do that is by, on world kindness day this year, we gave donuts and coffee to the different divisions on our campus. So, that each person felt loved and supported, and new the kindness crew was supporting them. Another way that we integrate that into our curriculum is that in December, we have an advent calendar. And when we open up each day, it has a different random act of kindness that we do for others here on campus, or maybe outside of the campus. Something else that we encourage students to do is not just show their kindness here at school, and to our school family and community. But to go outside and show that kindness at home. And that hopefully will follow them along in their life time. It is so rewarding when students come to school, and they can’t wait to share with you something they’ve done the night before that was kind. I had one student come and say, “Oh Mrs. Simms, we went to family and I. We went to Jimmy John’s and bought a whole platter of Jimmy John’s sandwiches, and took it to my local fire station.” And shared that kindness with their firemen. So, we love hearing those moments in those children’s lives, and they’ve done something that they recognize is a kind act. And we always encourage them to continue the kindness crew philosophy at home. And of course, at school. Try this in your classroom, and join The Kindness Crew.