PIP Reflection

Coalhurst Elementary Kindness Program

For my professional inquiry project I teamed up with Sareena Lakhu to create a kindness

program for Coalhurst Elementary. Since we both were teaching grade three four split

classrooms we decided to brainstorm for ideas and we both came to the conclusion that our

students struggled with cooperating and communicating with other classmates. Coalhurst

Elementary currently partakes in an annual kindness month in February and this was our starting

point for ideas. When we first started we intended to create a program that the school could use

in February or in other months if desired.

The Coalhurst Kindness Program is a document that includes twenty activities intended

to teach students about kindness. The activities are all different and offer modifications for

varying grade levels. Lessons were designed to be quick but could also be adapted for long time

periods. The reason for the quick activities is that we understand how face paced an elementary

classroom is so we wanted to make the activities quick if teachers were short on time. However,

all of the lessons can be easily adapted by teachers to be more intensive if desired depending on

the classroom. All of the lesson plans include a title, time, materials, lesson, and resources. We

designed the program so that teachers could quickly read the lesson and then print off the

necessary resource needed. Some lessons includes examples and pictures what it should look

like.

We started our initial planning by looking at the current kindness month powerpoint. We

discussed what we liked about and it we would like to change. After we started a list of possible

activities using books and ideas online from Pinterest. We used this beginning ideas to help us

guide our PIP proposal. These beginning ideas help us develop the program that we wanted.
 Once we had determined what we wanted our program to look like we decided to divide

the work equally. We developed a calendar for February filling in reading break as extra

activities. We each had to develop ten lessons or two weeks of lessons. I took the first two weeks

and Sareena took the last two weeks. Since I took the first week I decided to begin with basics

of what is kindness and what it looks like in the classroom. I also incorporated some ideas from a

novel study I did for Wonder. Two activities involve students taking a pledge of kindness and the

other is an activity to become a certified kind classroom through a website for Wonder. Both of

these activities I did in my class to test them out. For the pledge I had students come up with

things they can be doing in the classroom to always be kind. After I explained a pledge as a time

of promise and had students sign the pledge and then hung it in the classroom. I lied this because

when things happened in the classroom I could refer back to the pledge and ask them if it was

kind and they would explain why or why not. For the kindness jar I told students to always be

kind and it will result in a pebble being dropped into the jar. Throughout my practicum I also

challenged students like sending home a book and telling them to read it to someone in their

family as a random act of kindness and if they did they got a pebble in the jar. I found these

activities helped my students be more reflective on their actions.

After we finished getting all of our activities together we met and talked about getting

resources together along with testing activities and getting pictures. Our final stepping for

meeting again to go through the program together and creating an introduction page to explain

the program. Our final step was sharing it in google drive with administration and keeping a pdf

file four ourselves and our eportfolio.

To ensure the activities could be done in the classroom we both took a variety of

activities and tested them in our classrooms. In my classroom I had designed a novel study using
Wonder which is where I got some of my ideas for this program. I had my students complete the

kindness pledge in correlation with the book Wonder. The kids were able to come up with lots of

ways they could be kind in the classroom and then students signed the pledge. I placed it on the

front board and when things happened in the classroom I had students reflect if they were

holding up their side of the pledge. Students were also motivated by the classroom kindness jar.

Every act of kindness in the classroom would equal one pebble in the jar, once it was full I

entered the class to get a certificate for being kind. I used this as a continuous challenge for

students by using the kindness cards which the students loved! I would set a time limit and let the

students complete their card and exchange it for a pebble in the jar.

I found this project interesting because we noticed that our students were struggling being

kind to others in the classroom. It was also good to take an activity and ensure it could be

modified for different grades. I really enjoyed that our project was something kids need to learn

in the classroom and also outside to be a good person. Our kindness project had a central focus

on kindness but was also further divided with friendship, gratitude, empathy, and self-

confidence. All of these topics are essential for all students in elementary and our kindness

program provides them with activities to learn more about themselves.

The purpose of the Kindness program is to help students understand the importance of

being kind. Well creating the program I was able to reflect on what kindness means to me. In our

current world it feels like all we see is the bad happening like Covid-19 numbers and the world

shutting down. I realized that everyone needs some kindness in my life. Throughout my

practicum at Coalhurst I realized that as teachers we also need to practice what we teacher. I am

not saying I was not kind before, I am reflecting that it doesn’t cost much to say something kind.

I tried to remember to appreciate those around me like my family and friends. My students also
helped me be more reflective on kindness. As I was telling them to be kind to each other they

also reminded me that I deserve kindness. I have started an envelope of letters that I have

received from students along with drawings and sticky notes. I keep these by my desk to remind

me why I love what I do. I feel like sometimes I would get so caught up in planning, deadlines,

observations, and other duties that I lost sight of why I was there. Living through a pandemic

while teaching has shown me that everyone needs some kindness in their lives. As I have

challenged my students to always be kind, I am also taking the time to challenge myself to be

kind to myself and those around me, friends or strangers.

In conclusion, kindness is a universal lesson that everyone can benefit from. By

integrating it into the classroom and modelling what it looks like we can teach students to be

kind people as they grow. The Kindness Program aims to instill the value of kindness in students

to create positive school atmospheres along with positive communities of learners.

“When given the choice between being right or being kind, choose kind.” -Dr. Wayne W. Dyer