Kindness Club

Not last year, but the year before, we had Kindness Club. Last year it didn't work out. 

I was trained with Friends of Rachel, which is mainly a middle school and high school program. Then Joanne from Head over Heels for Teaching inspired me to include the upper elementary at school as well, so it became Kindness Club.  4th - 8th graders signed up to be part of the club. Because of our schedule, the 4th and 5th met once a month with me during lunch. The middle school 6th-8th would stop in after school on that same day.  I had Remind group chats with each group.  We had specific tasks to tackle, but it was mainly student driven.  They came up with so many wonderful ideas to tackle during each month, and then we tried to make it happen.  Sometimes admin had something they wanted us to tackle too.  

We started the year with a Kindness Kick Off. We got them excited to help out and volunteer their time.

That year the kids brainstormed a Fall Festival during the younger grades recesses, right after Halloween.  We took over a part of the playground, and the Kindness Kids helped to run the stations.  It gave the younger kids options to do during recess. We had seasonal games, we borrowed equipment from PE, and each grade level had 15 minutes to play before the next group came out.

Having 5 grades helping out sometimes got to be a little overwhelming.  I broke the kids into teams, with a specific task to complete during that month.  Then if anything else came up I would call on them to all help.  It worked out well.  

We had some kids volunteer to be on the Compliment Committee - writing compliments to staff, giving to me, and I'd stick them in the teacher mailboxes.  

We had other kids volunteer to be greeters.  They would stand by the gates in the morning and give Hi Fives.  

We had kids volunteer to be on the Welcoming Committee - When kids were added to our school in 4th-8th grade, the office would let me know their start date, and a buddy in that grade level went to the office to greet them. 

We had other kids volunteer to be Encouragement Kids - they would use big poster paper to create posters at home, bring to school, and I'd hang up near the office and in the cafeteria for the school to see.  

When there was a need, we'd try to help as well.  We had a sock collection in October (for Kid President's Socktober), and then donated to a local need.  All of us spread out to remind and collect the socks.

We created a rock garden with painted rocks and words of encouragement. Kids brought more from home to add as well.  

We had a Kindness Spirit Week, with a Kindness Kick Off, daily Kindness Quotes, and a Daily Challenge for them to complete. Some of the challenges could be done at school, but others done at home.

Kids also volunteered to be kindness readers in the primary grades (K-3rd). This was a yearly commitment - September to May. Once a month during part of their lunch, they would go to their "adopted" classroom and read the specific book to the kids.  I kept a list of the books and classes, and would make sure that nothing ever overlapped.  It worked well.  If someone forgot, I would get an email from the missed teacher, and I would send one of my own kids directly after our lunch when my class was doing silent reading.  So my own kids, not necessarily in Kindness Club, could also participate. 

Wanted to share some of the titles with you:

*The Invisible Boy

*The Hundred Dresses

*Enemy Pie

*The Juice Box Bully

*The Recess Queen

*Chrysanthemum

*We're All Wonders

*Be Kind

*Everyday Kindness

There are other ones that I added as well, but I'm blanking on the titles. Everything is currently tucked in the classroom, locked away until August.  

My readers had a specific day of the week that they would eat their lunch, then come to grab the specific book and a lanyard from a basket I left outside my door.  They would head to the classroom, read, and then bring the book back when done.  I wrote the reader's name on a post it note that was stuck on the book so they would grab the correct title.

Each class also was given this Kindness chart at the beginning of the year.  I just sent it through email, and put a copy in the teacher's boxes.  The goal was for classes to notice 100 Random Acts of Kindness within their classroom. When it was completed, the kids signed the bottom portion of the sheet, the teachers turned it into my box, and I'd notify the office for an announcement over the loud speaker.  You'd hear a cheer from across campus. Then they would start a new sheet.  ;)

Lanyards - When the kids were on duty, they wore lanyards with a badge. It helped them to feel official. I printed these 16 per page to slide into the plastic holders.    

Okay, wow - this turned into a big brain dump of everything Kindness Club related.  Like I mentioned, with distance learning the majority of last year, and then not being able to have kids go into other kids classes, and the min. days all year, well, it didn't work out.  I'm excited about this coming year with Kindness Club.  I can't wait to see what it will hold.  :)  

Hope this helps,