Along with building a foundation of faith and life-long learning, one of the basic tenets for students at St. Jude is being kind and Christ-like to others. These behaviors are discussed, talked about, and recognized throughout the school, however, the youngest students at St. Jude are doing something extra special.
During the month of February, St. Jude Kindergarteners have been completing random acts of kindness inside and outside of the classroom. Each time a student is caught being kind, at school or at home, they are able to add a documented heart to a kindness wall. The goal is to fill the wall with kindness. The Kindergarteners are encouraged to create pink and red hearts for each other when their classmates go above and beyond at school. Parents are also able to send in hearts when they see their child being kind at home. The acts of kindness are then discussed in class. Students enjoy expressing how they feel and the reaction of the person they helped. The St. Jude Kindergarteners feel a sense of pride when doing something nice for someone else and notice the joy that being kind can bring to others.
The idea of finding and displaying acts of kindness relates to the children’s book, Kindness is Cooler, Mrs. Ruler by Margery Culyer. This book was read to the Kindergarten classes as a way to explain acts of kindness and provide some examples on different ways students can be kind in the classroom, in the community, and at home. The book details how a classroom went from not being kind to one another and later having a celebration on completing 100 acts of kindness.
The St. Jude Kindergarten kindness wall is filling up quickly with hearts that recount acts such as “Nick surprised his sister by making her bed for her, Johnny switched game pieces with his sister to make her happy, and Brooke helped clean up when she wasn't asked to!”
