We can choose to grow kindness around us to make the world a better place
Some of the questions we are exploring together are:
What is kindness?
Why is it important to be kind to ourselves?
How can we be kind to ourselves?
Why is it important to be kind to others?
How does it feel when you are kind to someone else?
What actions can we take to spread kindness around us?
To begin this inquiry into kindness, we shared a discussion around the question: what is kindness? Together we read the book Be Kind by Pat Zietlow Miller to get our juices flowing around this topic. After we read the book and began our conversation, one first-grade student was late because she was confused about her new schedule. Right away, another student consoled her, sat with her, and told her it was OK. I also welcomed her, but it was the second-grade student's compassionate actions that made the difference between this first-grader feeling distraught and upset and settling into the new classroom. I pointed out that second-grade students was demonstrating KINDNESS IN ACTION! It was a beautiful way to start our class, actually seeing kindness manifest itself in a real-life situation.
Art-wise, the students designed the front covers of their sketchbooks. They had a choice between illustrating themselves doing something kind for another person, or drawing someone performing an act of kindness towards them. We had many interesting, colorful kindness drawings!
Here is a picture of the front cover of Be Kind by Pat Zeitlow Miller. The illustrations by Jen Hill are gorgeous, filled with lush color.
