Classroom Examples
If you are interested in bringing this program to your classroom, please don't hesitate to reach out with any questions!
For Someone changes the emphasis from who had the most exciting or expensive vacation to prioritizing empathy, kindness, and awareness of others. According to the George Lucas Educational Foundation, programs that focus on creating a culture of kindness result in children who are more in touch with their community. A sense of kindness and community are also important in higher education; Making Caring Common, a program from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, focuses on the importance of community service in college admittance. For Someone creates individual growth for a student, enhances classroom cohesiveness, and enriches the community in which they live.
This initiative meets several criteria of both the Ohio Standardized Testing and the Ohio Social and Emotional Learning Standards.
By providing a complete package of grade appropriate art work, assignment sheets, handouts, etc., to teachers and administrators, this is an easily implemented program.
Once the initial packets are created the yearly budget dollars are minimal. Opportunities for funding this type of initiative are plentiful through grants, individual donors, local companies, and educational tax dollars.
After 25 years as an Elementary teacher and Principal I have seen many programs introduced to enhance the standard curriculum. They vary in scope and content, but usually are grounded in the philosophy of improving student success academically.
This project is different in its purpose. It strives to improve student character, by introducing the universal concepts of kindness, compassion, empathy and recognition of global humanity. It asks students to think about others, take personal accountability and action for the treatment of others, and acknowledge the basic fact that when we do something for another person or persons, we develop our conscience. It is a practical way to make them better people. The materials and amount of time this project requires are a small bite of a school's resources.
Meaningful School Breaks would have a positive impact similar to the Random Acts of Kindness activities my school facilitated. Encouraging children to deliberately think about kind and helpful actions for other people makes them aware of the many opportunities that present themselves everyday. Our students began to notice what they could easily do for others, as well as what others were doing for them. Simple gestures can have a tremendous impact of a child's self-esteem and happiness. It takes the spotlight away from what I have to what I can do!