Last year I read a lot about promoting kindness in the classroom. I tried to find activities that would help my students to be thankful each day and also to be kind to one another. The little steps I took made a difference in my class, and in how I felt each day coming to work. I hope a few of these tips and resources will help you along the way too.
The first step is practicing gratitude on your own and modeling it for students. Develop a routine with students where each day you have what you are thankful for written on the board or in a morning message to students. Each day on my board, I had three words of the day such as, "Always be kind!" or "Do your best!". Under that I wrote what I was thankful for. It could be as simple as, "I am thankful I woke up on time today." or "I am thankful to hear you listened so well for the guest teacher." Students would enter the room, and write their own thankful statement as part of the morning routine. I had them do this in their assignment notebooks so parents could see them, but some teachers prefer to have a worksheet that students add to each day. I created one for you that you can use. The first page is for a daily gratitude and the second page is for a once a week reflection.
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| Link to free template |
This could also be part of the sharing portion of your morning meeting once a week, or at the end of day meeting. Some teachers do Friday letters to families and this could be added to that. Also, I suggest having a place in your classroom where students can reflect and thank others. I had a "Reflection Board" which was used as a parking lot for questions to me, questions to the class, compliments for others, or compliments for the class. It was a great place for me to see students' thoughts and ideas and a great way for students to share. I got the white board sheets in a roll from the Dollar Store!
Another thing you can do to promote kindness in the classroom is to have students recognize one another for being kind. They need to hear it from their peers as well as you. I had a Boogie Board like this in my classroom that my students loved to use instead of their whiteboard each day. In the beginning of the year, I modeled how I chose a student for the day by giving specific feedback to that student for why they earned the Boogie Board. "Natalie is earning the Boogie Board today because she showed perseverance during math yesterday when the problems got tough for her." Soon, students were ready to nominate a peer that they had also seen being a visible learner in the classroom. I just used an old pencil box and students once a week would nominate another student to use the board. When I pulled a name, the student who was the nominator said why they nominated that person. Sometimes there would be 3-5 students who nominated the same person and they would all share why they nominated the student who received the board. You should have seen the pride the nominee showed by hearing the compliments about their work. To prevent the same students from getting the board each week, I kept a checklist and each week students who were not nominated could have their names put into the pencil box. This way, EVERY student, even those who had a hard time in class with behaviors would be recognized by a peer.
The third way to promote kindness in the classroom is to use these little templates that I created for the year starting in November. I don't think students know each other well enough to do this earlier in the year, so November is a great time to start.
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| Get the template for these HERE. |
My rule for these templates is students cannot write, "Thank you for being my best friend." They are also encouraged to look for people who don't have one hung up to find something the could thank them for. I had them in a little basket and students would grab one when they finished work or if they had free time. Once finished, they would hand them to the receiver, and the receiver was the one who got to hang up in the room. I hung mine in rows along the shelves for everyone to see. I sent them home at the end of the month and put out the next month's shape to continue the kindness.
Finally, there are a ton of kindness and gratitude books out there for a read aloud with your students. Click HERE for 13 books that could get you started!
I would love to hear how you promote kindness and gratitude in the classroom year round. Please comment or ask questions below.
