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Search Results for: kindness tree

Encourage Good Character with This Easy Incentive

Last school year we brainstormed things we could do to encourage kindness.  We wanted to recognize good character instead of bad character.  After brainstorming about this, our counselor created the Kindness Tree.  The Kindness Tree was one of my favorite things about school!

KindnessTree-1-2

Whenever any staff member saw a student doing something kind, then that person could place the student’s name on a colored heart and put it into the Kindness Jar.  The Kindness Jar was stored in the library for staff members to drop the heart into.  Then on Friday the counselor would announce the students’ names who were in the Kindness Jar, and they could come to the office to get a prize.  Each heart went on the Kindness Tree the following week.

As you can see, the tree has all different colors of hearts.  That is because each month the counselor would hand out a different color of hearts.  For example, we received orange hearts in the fall, red hearts at Christmas time, and pink hearts in the spring.  The kids LOVED the tree and wanted to know if they could put hearts on the tree, as well, if they caught someone being kind.  Because students wanted to participate in the Kindness Tree , I thought it would be a great idea if each classroom could have a tree and students could manage putting hearts on it when they saw someone being kind.

Have You Filled a Bucket Lesson Fun! {Giveaway}

One of my friends calls it punting when you come up with a lesson at the last minute that turns out better than one you spent hours planning. Now, I did have a ready to go lesson and was ready to teach it when I thought this idea would be so much better. In a school where I have difficulty with the students treating one another with kindness, this idea seemed perfect. I used the idea from Have You Filled a Bucket Today? for this lesson, but I never actually got around to reading the book.

Here is what I did. I brought a bucket of sorts which actually was a Dollar Tree gift box and it was filled with red die cut hearts and puff balls. I gathered the students in a circle and threw out puffballs one at a time while saying things that kids say to one another that are hurtful. For example, “you’re ugly, your breath stinks, you’re wearing cheap shoes, no one likes you, you can’t play kickball” etc. Every time I would say an ugly comment I would drop a puffball or heart on the floor. Then I showed the kids how the box is like your heart and it is like you are hurting someone when you say mean things to them.

Next, I gave each child a puffball in the circle and had them think of something nice to say about someone else in the circle. I started so that the students had an example to follow. Then as they said a nice comment about someone, I let them put the puffball back in the box. Then at the end I let the kids see how the box was filled up because they said nice things about one another.

Note: It is hard to get young children to say something nice about someone that isn’t about their physical appearance, so this requires modeling or else the children will say that johnny has a nice shirt or that they like someone’s hair. After we sat on the carpet and did all of this I had the children write something on a paper heart that they would say nice about someone else. Then I collected all of the hearts and made a bucket to post on the wall so that the children could be reminded of what we had talked about.

GIVEAWAY DETAILS:  

Prize: $100 Teachers Pay Teachers Gift Card

Giveaway Organized by: Kelly Malloy (An Apple for the Teacher)

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Rules: Use the Rafflecopter to enter.  Giveaway ends 2/13/20 and is open worldwide.

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How You Can Inspire Thankfulness in Your Students!

This year I wanted to spur my kids on to be more thankful, so I did this…  I really didn’t do this just because it was Thanksgiving time but because I wanted them to appreciate what they have all the time.

First, I read my students a true story about kids living in Africa who were orphaned and lived in a garbage dump.  They ran after a garbage truck to get scraps of food for survival.  One of the kids living in the dump had their baby sister killed by wild jackals.  They had no one to help them–no parents or guardians of any sort.  I read this story from a newsletter I receive from a Christian missionary.  You can read more about him if you click the link above.  I of course had to leave the Christian stuff out because I work in  a public school, but the story still is impactful for kids to appreciate what we have.

Second, I showed my students a video about a man who was about to die because he had ALS.  His mission was to spread as much kindness as he could before he died.  I really made them think about how they wanted to be remembered.  Did they want to be remembered for how kind they were or for how badly they treated others.  This video is here.  The video really touched the kids hearts.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYSc-WGenAw[/embedyt]

After we discussed both of these things, I told them they would be getting a little journal.  For the next four weeks the kids mission was to write down things they were thankful for each day and one kind thing that they did each day.  The students were really excited to get their journals, but I made them wait one class period before I gave them the journals.  I also informed parents before they received them so that parents knew what was expected of their children.

I bought these journals for 88 cents in a 3 pack at Wal-mart which makes them about 29 cents each.  The notebooks are about 3 x 4 inches. You can also get some at the Dollar Tree for…..you guessed it!….  a dollar, which makes them about 33 cents each.  In my opinion the ones at Wal-Mart are better looking because they are solid colored.

So here are the rules I gave the kids:

  • You must write three things you are thankful for each day.
  • The items you are thankful for cannot repeat.
  • For example, if today you say I am thankful for my momma, my daddy, and my dog, on another day you can’t say I’m thankful for my momma, my bicycle, and my brother because momma repeats.
  • If you lose it, you buy yourself another one.  I will not replace your journal.
  • Underneath the line you are to write one kind thing you did that day.
  • This can be anything kind.  It doesn’t have to be extravagant.  Their act of kindness can be just picking up a scrap of trash or giving someone a compliment.
  • The act of kindness cannot repeat on a different day either.

Some kids ask what happens if they miss a day.  I tell them not to worry but that they can go back and add something if they miss a day.  They must continue with their thankfulness project (notebook) even on weekends and vacations.  There will be a little incentive for them if they complete the project–namely Dollar Tree Christmas prizes.


I hope this idea inspires you to instill thankfulness in your own students!  Happy Thanksgiving season!

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