Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links which means we make a small commission at no cost to you if you click and purchase something we recommend. The suggested products are ones we have tried and love! For more information see our full disclosure policy. Thank you for your support!
Community service at school is critical. It is one of the first opportunities your students will have to learn about the ripple effects of kindness. This is how an inexpensive bin helps me make an impact in my school community all year long.
Make a Kindness Kit for your Classroom
My kindness kit gives me and my students a chance to positively impact the days of the people around us. It makes our community a happier place to be. Here is what is in my Kindness Kit:
Flower Water Tubes: These tubes give my students and I the ability to turn any cutting from a bush or wildflower into a thoughtful gift. They only cost a few cents each and allow us to share beautiful flowers with the people in our community all year long.
Note Cards: A simple handwritten note goes such a long way. Having cute note cards on hand encourages me and my students to write them out. I send them home to parents and put them in the boxes of teachers who make my day better.
Tea: A simple tea bag with an encouraging note can turn someones day around. As teachers, we do not always take time for self care. This is a good way to
Student Art: Students produce beautiful art but we all know, we cannot keep everything. I will display art students want to give me for a few days. Then I will ask them if they want to move it to the Kindness Kit. Most of the time, they do! I store the student art in an expanding file folder. When a person is helpful to our classroom (volunteers, substitute teachers, office staff, etc.) we choose a piece of art to give them.
Gift Tags & Twine: Having a cute gift tag and a bundle of twine makes all the difference. These two items are a quick way to turn anything into a thoughtful gift.
Kindness is a Community Service at School
I became a teacher to help create good people. To be honest it’s a challenge for me to push academic rigger over developing quality relationships in my classroom. This strategy is not so good on state tests but may be good for our world. Helping shape humans that care about themselves and each other is kind of it for me. As some of you may know by now, I love sneaking character-building content into academics anywhere I can. Nothing and I mean nothing, beats a good student check-in followed by a social skills group in my book!
And then there is kindness.
I could talk about being kind with my students all day. Kind is what we need more of in schools, in homes, and in communities. I infuse kindness into my reading comprehension groups and into my vocabulary word of the week. I have used kindness as theme for my classroom. We have a kindness word wall and classroom posters. It is a part of the fabric of our classroom community.
Kindness is having a moment and I am here for it! The outcome in my classroom has been a kinder, more safe learning environment where students are encouraged to take chances. I would love to hear how you infuse kindness into your classroom!