Acts of Kindness - $5 Donation & Field Trip NEXT Thursday, February 13th

We have been spending a lot of our January and February afternoons talking about the importance of giving to others and kindness.  Check out our giving and kindness definitions.

Giving: (verb)
Merriam-Webster's Definition:
1. Freely transfer the possession of (something) to (someone); hand over to: "they gave her water".
2. Bestow (love, affection, or other emotional support): "his parents gave him encouragement"; "he was very giving and supportive".

Kindergarteners' Definition:
When you fill someones bucket! When you help someone in need. When you smile at someone.

Kindness: (noun)
Merriam-Webster's Definition:
1. The quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate.
2. A kind act.

Kindergarteners' Definition:
Not thinking of yourself. Helping someone up. Doing things for others.

We are gearing up for next week's National Acts of Kindness Week.  In honor of Acts of Kindness week, on Thursday, February 13th, we will be traveling downtown (via the city bus) to complete acts of kindness for community members around Iowa City.  We have created a student-driven plan and students are ready to prepare for our big Acts of Kindness Day.  Here is where your help is needed.  To best honor your child and their classmates' Kindness desires I am looking for each family to contribute $5 (or more) to purchase supplies for our Acts of Kindness Day.  Please bring in your family's $5 donation by Monday, February 10th in order to cover the cost of supplies purchased over the weekend.

Some of our plans include:
•  baking treats
•  purchasing a Book Fair book for another class
•  telling the teacher's thank you with a special gift
•  delivering a candy bar to our Towncrest bus driver
•  handing out goodies to college students
•  giving small gift cards to local restaurant patrons
•  delivering treats to ICFD, ICFD, and our public librarian friends

In addition, students have thought about ways they can show Acts of Kindness with their family in the community.  Here are a few of our the ideas we generated at school:
• Leave nice notes on cars in parking lots to let others know we care.
• Smile at someone.
• Give a compliment.
• Buy a gift card and hand it to someone going into the store or restaurant. Make sure to say "Act of kindness! Enjoy!"
• Tell your family you love them.
• Help load grocery's into an elder's car.
• Return a lone shopping cart.
• GIve away old clothes and toys to people in need.
• Hold a door for a stream of people.
• Share coins. Put quarters in parking meters, put coins in bell ringers' red cauldrons, pay for someone else's drink or food in a drive through lane, attach a baggie of coins to a vending machine.

FRIDAY'S HOMEWORK:  On Friday, February 7th, I will send home a note with an attached notecard. Use this notecard to journal your child's first act of kindness completed over the weekend. Have them write down what your family did. If you can, attach a picture (or email me the picture) to go with the notecard. Please return the notecard by Friday, February 14th. We will use these notecards to further present and spread our love for kindness at our upcoming Community Night on Thursday, March 13th.  If you complete more than on act of kindness have your child journal the additional acts on other notecards. Don't forget to add (or email) a picture to go with each act of kindness. Continue to do this as your child competes a variety of acts of kindness throughout the month of February.

We will create a Act of Kindness bulletin board to display all of our notecards and photos. With our AK's on display, we hope the urge to complete acts of kindness will spread across our Willowwind community and beyond.  Here you will find a few links of other families that have completed random acts of kindness in their community. Click the links to to find additional ideas. Really, the ideas are endless - there are a variety of free and inexpensive ideas at our fingertips!  Need Acts of Kindness Ideas?  Click HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.

PS: The AK movement is on the rise. Here is an article I found on the Today Show's website about acts of kindness on Staten Island!