The Kindness Recorder-A School Family Job

I cannot believe summer is almost over. A new school year always makes me nervous and excited. One of my favorite parts of going back to school is building our new School Family. One of the best ways to do that is through Our School Family jobs. So many of the jobs encourage and foster kindness.

The Kindness Recorder is one I adore!

We start by reading the story Mrs. Spritzers Garden.

We talk about how to take care of a garden and flowers and what Mrs. Spritzer did to take care of her garden of children. I tell the kiddos that to help others grow into something beautiful we need to treat them with kindness. We then brainstorm a list of ways we can show kindness to others.

We also listen to the song "Looking for Kindness" from this Conscious Discipline cd.

The job of the Kindness Recorder will be to add kind flowers for the helpful and kind acts that they notice others doing. I bought the flowers at the Target Dollar Spot.

When the Kindness Recorder adds a kind flower they tell that person:

I am going to add you a kind flower for __________.

The person it is being added for replies:

Thank you for noticing that.

I also bring in 2 different flowering plants. One we take really good care of and the other I will pull petals and leaves off of when I see or hear something mean. I won't say who it was and I never do it right at that moment. I might say "When we were down at the restrooms, I saw someone snatch the paper towel someone had just rolled and they didn't roll that person more. Was that kind and helpful?" As the week goes on, we look at the two different plants and we talk about the difference between caring for one with kindness and being hurtful to the other. This makes a HUGE impact on the kiddos.

The Kindness Recorder brings a smile to my heart daily. It amazes me how quickly the kiddos start to notice kind acts from others...even me. At the beginning of the year, I do a lot of modeling of this job before I turn it over to the kiddos. I also will help the Kindness Recorder "notice" these kind acts if they might be having a little trouble noticing those acts themselves....but the other kiddos are good at pointing them out too!

There might be times when one of my "toughies" is showing kindness that I really want to celebrate and notice....or I might want to celebrate the kiddos who are always putting others before themselves. So, I made some little notes that you can send home with any of your kiddos to celebrate those sweet kind hearts.

Conscious Discipline says that what you focus on you get more of and what you strengthen in others you strengthen in yourself. So, think about adding some kindness to your classroom this year with the job of the Kindness Recorder. :)

It is easy to forget how just a little kindness can bring a huge smile to someone's heart. :)

From My Heart to Yours,