“Here Come the Kindness Ladies!”
quote from the students at West Sedona Elementary School
By Gloria Woody
Sometimes you do something in your life that stretches your comfort zone, and I think that is what we’ve done on the “Kindness in Schools” (KIS) committee. Back in January of 2016, we met for the first time with the goal of introducing a Buddy Bench into the school. Just to find out that they already had one! And, it was dedicated to a young child, who in his short life, had gone to that school! So it seemed appropriate that we go back to the drawing board to decide how we, as a committee, could be of help and stand up to our name.
We bought what we now call our “kindness Library” full of children’s books whose themes (as you can guess) are all about kindness. We discussed how by reading them and having a “fun” activity to go along with them might be our answer. We worked for months hammering out activities for each book, but were we ready to take our presentations into the classroom?!?
After speaking to the Principal and the School Councilor, and getting their enthusiastic approval, it was GAME TIME! No more thinking about it. NOW was the time to “put up or shut up”... Needless to say, we were rather shaky that first day. Not only that but each TEAM of two, needed to present their book and activity to 3 different classes all within a 90 minute time limit!! You should have seen us scurrying from one classroom to the next every 30 minutes!!
Afterwards, we met for coffee and discussed how things had gone for each team. You would not have believed the smiles!!! Everyone was so exhilarated! Truly, it was like an adrenaline rush - Who Knew?!? And, apparently the teachers were excited also because now they and the students call us as the “Kindness Ladies”, and they “Look Forward” to our coming which says a lot considering their very busy schedules!
So now we have been going into the classrooms for three months and are, if possible, even more enthusiastic. We have been inspired to come up with more innovative ways to engage the students - from releasing “Live Ladybugs” to having the very first “debut” of the KIS Puppet Theater - to rave reviews of course!!
We have also been helping in other ways. One of our members, Ruti Lovett, paid to have a fantastic assembly brought to the school. It challenged the students to see if they could do “5,000 Acts of Kindness in 15 days”, and our committee helped with the celebration at the end! We also helped out with the school Carnival which is their big fund-raiser. So in these way, we feel that we are assisting the school and the PTA by being there to lend a hand when needed.
One thing that “touched” my heart/soul and made me know that we were really “making a difference”! Our team had read Have You Filled a Bucket Today? (which means that by “saying or doing something kind to someone, it fills their heart/soul as well as your own). So after reading it, we placed sheets of paper on their desks with an outline of a bucket on it. After the students had written their name at the top, they went around to their classmates and wrote something KIND in all of their buckets. And, there they were two months later on the bulletin board!!! The question: Have You Filled a Bucket Today? in big, bold letters and attached were many of the papers on which the students had written their words of kindness. That something that ‘we’d introduced’ was still being used as a teaching aide was a WOW MOMENT!
With the world situation as it is today, there is something comforting about being able to do something that seems so worthwhile. And, hopefully, our message of “Kindness” will make a lasting impression on some of these young lives… Again. it is like the “ripples on the water” - no one knows whom they are going to touch!
We bought what we now call our “kindness Library” full of children’s books whose themes (as you can guess) are all about kindness. We discussed how by reading them and having a “fun” activity to go along with them might be our answer. We worked for months hammering out activities for each book, but were we ready to take our presentations into the classroom?!?
After speaking to the Principal and the School Councilor, and getting their enthusiastic approval, it was GAME TIME! No more thinking about it. NOW was the time to “put up or shut up”... Needless to say, we were rather shaky that first day. Not only that but each TEAM of two, needed to present their book and activity to 3 different classes all within a 90 minute time limit!! You should have seen us scurrying from one classroom to the next every 30 minutes!!
Afterwards, we met for coffee and discussed how things had gone for each team. You would not have believed the smiles!!! Everyone was so exhilarated! Truly, it was like an adrenaline rush - Who Knew?!? And, apparently the teachers were excited also because now they and the students call us as the “Kindness Ladies”, and they “Look Forward” to our coming which says a lot considering their very busy schedules!
So now we have been going into the classrooms for three months and are, if possible, even more enthusiastic. We have been inspired to come up with more innovative ways to engage the students - from releasing “Live Ladybugs” to having the very first “debut” of the KIS Puppet Theater - to rave reviews of course!!
We have also been helping in other ways. One of our members, Ruti Lovett, paid to have a fantastic assembly brought to the school. It challenged the students to see if they could do “5,000 Acts of Kindness in 15 days”, and our committee helped with the celebration at the end! We also helped out with the school Carnival which is their big fund-raiser. So in these way, we feel that we are assisting the school and the PTA by being there to lend a hand when needed.
One thing that “touched” my heart/soul and made me know that we were really “making a difference”! Our team had read Have You Filled a Bucket Today? (which means that by “saying or doing something kind to someone, it fills their heart/soul as well as your own). So after reading it, we placed sheets of paper on their desks with an outline of a bucket on it. After the students had written their name at the top, they went around to their classmates and wrote something KIND in all of their buckets. And, there they were two months later on the bulletin board!!! The question: Have You Filled a Bucket Today? in big, bold letters and attached were many of the papers on which the students had written their words of kindness. That something that ‘we’d introduced’ was still being used as a teaching aide was a WOW MOMENT!
With the world situation as it is today, there is something comforting about being able to do something that seems so worthwhile. And, hopefully, our message of “Kindness” will make a lasting impression on some of these young lives… Again. it is like the “ripples on the water” - no one knows whom they are going to touch!