Random Acts of Kindness to Build Character
Random Acts of Kindness to Build Character
Kindness Matters!
Do you want your students to do kind things for others? Make things more about others than themselves? How to accept others? Doesn’t that sound like a happy and peaceful classroom? Using Character Education and Random Acts of Kindness to Build Generosity can be accomplished.
We know this kind of task can feel challenging at times but if we continue to help students see ways to be kind, a peaceful and happy classroom can be achieved! Students want to be shown kindness and also want to show their own kind spirit. They have it in them, we just have to help them. One easy way to do this is through literature! By reading stories, students can empathize with characters and find ways to identify themselves with the characters. Through reading stories, we can help them appreciate others and accept people for who they are.
While there are countless books out there to help achieve this goal, we want to highlight the story written by Maribeth Boelts called Those Shoes. This story is about a boy who wants a new pair of shoes but can’t afford them. He gets made fun of by everyone except Antonio. The story goes on to show what kindness and generosity look like.
Using that story as a launching point, we have put together some great activities for you to try with your students to learn what giving and getting kindness looks like. We believe kids can be taught to be more kind and generous because kindness matters! Keeping that in mind here are a few ideas to get you started…
After reading Those Shoes, have students create their own character by using this graphic organizer. Follow it up with a great writing activity by writing about generosity using the ideas from the story, Those Shoes. If you need to throw in some academics, you can use the multiple choice quiz to highlight important concepts from the story.
Need to get kids up and moving? Why not try a Process Drama? Don’t let the term, “drama” scare you off! Process dramas are simple to employ while they inspire creativity in your students. Review making predictions, summarizing, inferencing, and visualization in the story with this fun activity. While reading the story, students form groups and respond to the text through tableaux. Make your reading time come alive and keep busier students engaged in higher order thinking about the story!
However you decide to teach your students about kindness and generosity, remember to always choose kindness when it comes to working with students. Students have so many pressures and a kind teacher can always make the difference for many students. They will follow your lead! Thank you to all of the teachers choosing to lead with kindness and generosity!
BONUS: Try this random acts of kindness challenge with your students. Who knows what kind of generosity it will lead to?
