Connected KInders: Random Acts of Christmas Kindness

Grinch Day got the students of Connected 1.0 discussing the meaning of Christmas. One way the students thought they could show their spirit for the season was by giving kindness. We decided to become the "Random Acts of Christmas Kindness Class." We have been sneaking all around the school and community "R.A.C.K. ing" people.

Our first R.A.C.K. was for the Cafeteria Staff. The students wrote thank you notes for our hard working lunch ladies. The students wrote things like "I love your food." and "Thank you for getting stuff we need." and "Thank you for all your hard work." The ladies were surprised to find these kind notes on the counter after all the kids had left the lunchroom.

Next, the students wanted to do something for Mrs. Crum. Mrs. Crum gets pictures and notes from so many of the Eagle Cliffs students. We all love her! So, we made her a binder to keep all her "love notes" in! Of course, we started the binder with 22 beautifully written love notes from us. Mrs. Crum said she was having a tough day and the notes and binder put a huge smile on her face!

The weather has been quite chilly! Our next act of kindness was to bring handwarmers to people at our school that have to be outside. We R.A.C.K.ed our crosswalk guard, our playground duty aides, and our custodian.

We R.A.C.K.ed the life skills classroom at Eagle Cliffs. The students of Connected 1.0 made special bookmarks for all the children in the life skills room. We also gave them some Christmas books for their classroom library.

The students also really wanted to R.A.C.K. one of the kindness people we all know, Mr. Wardell. The children brought him up and their discussion about Mr. Wardell just melted my heart. I asked them what it was about Mr. Wardell that made him so kind. I was sure they would start with "because he gave us the ipads." I wasn't even close. The first thing they said was "He cares about our learning." Then a student added, "He comes from far away to visit us." Next, "Mr. Wardell listens to us." Wow! Ipads didn't enter the discussion until the fourth idea.

We just had to "R.A.C.K." Mr. Wardell, but this one was a little tricky. The children decided since Mr. Wardell always comments on their missing teeth, they would like to sing him a song. So we made this short video and sent it to him just before Christmas.

Mr. Wardell emailed me soon after receiving the video! Connected 1.0 strikes again. He was delighted and we made his day!

The children couldn't get enough of the R.A.C.K.ing. They were just full of ideas. So, our last homework assignment before the break was to perform a Random Act of Christmas Kindness. I was amazed with the responses. Thank you parents for supporting this project. The children were so proud of themselves and their kindness. Here are just of few of the wonderful acts of homework kindness.