I’m Kind!

Happy World Kindness day! Today after our Routines and Math and Phonics, we had a special lesson. We talked about kindness. But I don’t teach Kindness in one day, we work every day! In our school we learn how to write our names, numbers, we learn English,… but we also learn to be a citizen of this global world.
The demands of the 21st century require a review of what do we need to teach in our school. Academic achievement es very important, but now more than ever, the world is requiring social skills, the world needs leaders, people that know how to communicate, people who know what other people want and need. So we need to move beyond the curriculum to prepare the children for their future, we need to teach the “whole child”.

We are an International and at the base of all of the IB programs is the Learner Profile, which is the IB mission statement in action. The IB learner profile underlined a wide range of human skills and responsibilities that go beyond academic success. They include a commitment to guide the school community to respect themselves, peers, and the world around them. One of our Learner Profiles is Caring. Being caring is showing empathy, compassion, and respect. We commit to service, and we act to make a positive difference in the lives of others and the world around us. Being Kind is caring.

But today is World Kindness day so I thought maybe a special lesson focus on that would be interesting. So to start as usual, with a book:

Book for Pre-K. — Book for Kindergarten.

After reading the books, We were talking about Who is important to us, “Who is your friend?” I said to them. For me is very important to give them the chance to participate and express themselves, no matter if they are speaking in Chinese. I want them to understand and get involved in the activity.
Then we did a kind of a Mindfulness activity: We close our eyes and I ask them to imagine helping that important person for them, giving him/her a hug. Then I ask how did they feel. Was nice. Everybody was touched, including me.

Later I show them some examples of what is being kind and what not. So I showed them different pictures and they needed to say to me if that picture showed a kind action or not.

Thumb up if the picture show kindness and thumb down if not. Pushing your friend it’s not kind.

Finally, I said to them that when you are kind It’s like when you sow a seed. It will grow and that kindness and love will return to you bigger. So I gave them I seed of kindness with a heart shape and we put inside a paper cup with soil. I said to them they are very kind kids so the seed probably will sprout and grow fast. After the nap, you will not believe this but… we found a heart flower!! Amazing!!! Kindness is amazing!!!

Then we went to our Vice-Principal office and to the administration Office to share our kindness and gave extra flowers to Dr. Sabate and Madame Duan.