Making A Difference: World Kindness Day At Plymouth Elementary

Press release from the Colonial School District:

November 23, 2020

For World Kindness Day, the “Feelings Friday” lesson at Plymouth Elementary School (PE) focused on the book, A Little SPOT of Kindness!, written and illustrated by Diane Alber.

In the story, the character named SPOT shared different examples of kindness and encouraged the children to make it a habit to be kind every day.

“You can help your mom clean, give a friend a hug when they are feeling sad or donate toys to kids whose parents might not be able to afford them,” suggested PE student Gabby Gunning.

In the video, teacher Janette O’Keefe walked the students through reciting The Pledge of Kindness and then brainstormed items from their homes that they could use to make a “SPOT Chart” to help keep track of the days they show kindness.

“My favorite way to be kind is playing with someone who doesn’t have anyone to play with,” said PE student Ella Mendez.

Click here to watch Gabby and Ella recite The Pledge of Kindness!

Plymouth Elementary started “Feelings Friday” to provide a quick, practical wellness lesson for Friday afternoons during the hybrid schedule.

“The lessons are so very important, because they allow the children to identify and name the many feelings that they experience,” said PE Teacher Janette O’Keefe. “Once they can identify and name a feeling, they can determine if that feeling is getting too big. When a feeling gets too big, it can hurt our heads, hearts and stomachs. I share practical strategies that the children can use to calm themselves and then try to shrink the feeling back to a manageable size.”

The “Feelings Friday” lesson always involves a book and an art activity. In addition to kindness, topics include anger, happiness, hurt feelings and bravery, as well as being “present” (mindful of here and now) and the power of deep breathing.

This press release was produced by the Colonial School District .The views expressed here are the author’s own.