At Bellevue Elementary we scattered kindness throughout our school and community! We had many projects and activities spreading the theme of kindness. The first activities centered around two legacy projects that involved 5th and 6th graders. The students stayed after school and colored and designed ceiling tiles with butterflies and bees which hang in the lobby of the school. The second project involved painting bathroom stalls with inspirational and kindness sayings. Throughout the school year students were encouraged to recognize their peers with kindness shout outs which were read on the morning announcements.
In the month of February the Kindness Challenge went out to all the grades kindergarten through 6th grade to see which class could the make the longest kindness chain. The students were wrote down any acts of kindness they did at home or at school and at end of the three week period the grade with the longest chain won a reward day. The fourth grade came out the winners but close behind was kindergarten and first grade. Along with the kindness chain at school links were passed out to local businesses in which customers could write down an act of kindness they did. At one business a customer was so inspired by the Kindness Challenge that she gave the cashier money to pay for the next several customer's cups of coffee.
The Bellevue Elementary Kindness Club was formed and the students stayed after school to make paper tissue flowers for an important person in their life, made Awesome Locker Tags to put on all 350 student's lockers with kindness sayings on them and made cards for service members for Operation Troop Appreciation. Another project involved sixth grade students making Kindness frames and teachers picked students from their classroom who embodied kindness. those student then got their picture taken with the frames which were turned into Kindness banners that are hung throughout the school.
The final two events took place in May. The first was "Spreading Kindness Through Our Community" where volunteers from our local Bayne Library came down and had the students decorate bookmarks to be given out to patrons, wands and posters for the library. The culminating event was the Bellevue Elementary Kindness Stations Day. Each grade level came at designated times to different Kindness Stations: Station 1 Decorating- Decorating cup holders, grocery bags and bookmarks. Station 2 Animal Friends- Making dog toys for Animal Friends. Station 3 Cards- Making cards for Bellevue Police and Fireman. Station 4 Maker Space- Making puzzles and Tic Tac Toe boards for Bellevue Pediatrics. Station 5 Flowers- Making tissue Paper flowers for seniors at Lutheran Service Center. Station 6 Welcome to Our Neighborhood- Making welcome bags with keychains for new families at Bellevue Elementary School. The students had a wonderful time at all the stations and spreading kindness throughout the school year!