TL;DR:
- Bring kindness into your classroom on Random Acts of Kindness Day.
- Setting up your classroom to show kindness all year long can have many positive benefits.
- There are various resources available for activities and lessons.
Random Acts of Kindness Day is on February 17th this year. The phrase “Random Acts of Kindness” (RAKS) was originated by a California woman named Anne Herbert who wrote an article about kindness in 1985. In addition, she wrote a children’s book on the subject in 1993.
Spread Positive Messages Throughout the School Year
How have you and your students been promoting and displaying RAKS this year? What kind of impact has this had on your school culture? For instance, when we discover new ways of doing something that we’re already doing, we can reiterate to students the impact of spreading positive messages through kindness, not only around February 17th, but every day.
If you’re new to promoting RAKS and would like to try something around RAKS day this month, see the tips below for ways to observe this day at your school or in your classroom.
Tips to Show Random Acts of Kindness
- Incorporate quotes from famous people such as “No one has ever become poor by giving” from Anne Frank and “Love and kindness are never wasted” by Barbara De Angelis into your instruction.
- The Random Acts of Kindness Day website has coloring sheets you can use with your younger students from February 1-17. You can also download mini-lessons on kindness catered towards each grade level from their website.
- Say hi and smile, even with a mask on. When you look people in the eyes and smile, you show them that you see them and acknowledge their presence in the world. It breaks down barriers.
- Send a message of gratitude to teammates. For example, who has gone above and beyond on a project or helped you out recently? A hand-written note goes a long way as well.
- Pass out random kind notes to students and colleagues. This helps to get students invested in their learning.
- Set up a “kindness” board in your classroom. Have students write kind things on sticky notes about their classmates and post them.
- Create a kindness chain for the classroom. Give students paper slips to write down ideas for random acts of kindness. Then, link them together to display on your bulletin board or even out in the hallway. Kindness might be catching!
Case of a School District Implementing Kindness
A few years ago, I worked in Colorado Springs District 11. The district implemented Kindness in the Classroom in 35 elementary schools (K-5) with a total of over 11,000 students over a five-year period between 2017 and 2022. Kindness in the Classroom gives students a safe environment to discuss emotions and their ethical/moral views with an educated and trusted adult. In one of District 11’s schools, they have seen a 38% decrease in discipline referrals after the first year of implementation.
Kindness in the Classroom is a FREE K-5 curriculum. While I was in District 11, at the middle school level, they sent us to Flip Flippen’s Capturing Kids’ Hearts training. This program can be used in the classroom, cafeteria, and on the bus. In addition, it can be used during staff meetings and in the homes of community members. The CKH program has several training options, both in-person and virtually, for administrators, teachers, coaches, and students.
Just Like World Kindness Day in November
In my November 13, 2021, blog post Ideas to Commemorate World Kindness Day, I list several ways to share kindness and create a culture of kindness in the school. I also talk about RAKS and how “if your school culture could use a ‘nudge,’ starting a kindness challenge among grade levels or departments is a perfect idea to ‘reset’ how people treat each other and start a new tradition.”
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Impacting School Culture
As a result of bringing kindness days such as RAKS day or Capturing Kids’ Hearts into our schools on an ongoing basis, we see how it impacts the culture and climate of our schools. If you’re celebrating RAKS day this month, please tweet me what you’re doing or send pics to @danagoodier using the hashtag #RAKSDay #TBBlogger.
References
Random Acts of Kindness | Free K-5 Lesson Plans: New & Improved
Welcome — Capturing Kids’ Hearts (capturingkidshearts.org)
About Dana Goodier
Dr. Dana Goodier has 20 years of experience in education. She has taught World Languages and English and worked as a middle school administrator. She completed her doctorate degree (Ed.D.) in Educational Leadership early 2020. For her dissertation, she researched reasons parents were opting their students out of high-stakes testing at middle schools and how that affected the district accreditation rating. She often speaks at conferences, providing educators with techniques to minimize off-task behavior and to increase time on task. She is the host of the “Out of the Trenches” podcast, which features educators who share their stories of resiliency. Follow her on Twitter @danagoodier and visit her website at: www.danagoodier.com
