Grade 7 students at Sir Isaac Brock PS spread kindness
March 12, 2020
GUELPH, Ontario – Grade 7 students at Sir Isaac Brock Public School have been busy learning how cool kindness can be.
Earlier this year, grade 7 teacher Ms. Hayhurst and student teacher Ms. MacPherson noticed that the students in their class were acting as if they needed a bit of a pick-me-up. Through this observation, Hayhurst and MacPherson decided it was the perfect opportunity to incorporate lessons on kindness with their students.
The unit focused on several areas of kindness including self-kindness, kindness to their peers, kindness to the community and global kindness.
As the first lesson in self-kindness, students were tasked to pick a song and reflect on how it promoted self-kindness.
For the lesson on kindness to their peers, students were asked to look at how perspectives can change when you are in someone else’s shoes. As a class, students read a poem; upon reading the poem top to bottom, the poem reflected negativity and unkindness, but when students changed their perspective and read the poem from bottom to top, the poem reflected hope and positivity.
Another part of this lesson was reflecting through the eyes of someone else. Students were tasked to pick an antagonist from a book or movie and write a letter to the protagonist explaining how they were unkind and what they could have done differently.
After the first two lessons, students were really put to the test. To learn about kindness to the community, students were put in groups and over a few days were asked to make a kind gesture in the school or community.
Some students posted motivational posters through the school, some shared candy grams with a class and some shared a positive message on the desk of everyone in their class.
As a kind gesture, one group of students wrote a letter to every staff member at the school outlining how important they are to the school. Another group of students collected toys at home that they no longer use but are still in excellent condition. The toys were then put in the kindergarten class room and the grade 7s issued the kindergarten students a challenge. If a kindergarten student paid it forward by doing an act of kindness, they could pick a toy from the box and keep it.
All the kind acts from the grade 7 class created a positive buzz around the school and from there, more and more students began spreading kindness. Students in the kindergarten class were so excited about this idea, that they asked their teacher if they could collect litter around the school yard. When asked if the kindergarten students would continue to be kind even without a toy as incentive, they all agreed they would continue to spread kindness.
Grade 7 students are pleased with the work that they have done and all agreed that they will continue to spread kindness at the school and through the community.
Hayhurst and MacPherson said they are so proud of their students and are happy that the kindness from their class created a ripple effect throughout the entire school.
Share with us other ways in which you can spread kindness by tweeting us using #UGKindness.
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