Random acts of kindness in the classroom

Day one of promoting kindness in the classroom begins!
I officially began our Random Acts of Kindness today with our students.

My students have been VERY curious as to why all the teacher’s have “I’ve Been Elfed” signs everywhere.

I explained how the process works and decided to put my own little twist on this activity for the students…Secret Santas!
Secret Santas were started when each one of my students randomly choose a name out of a jar. The students were then told that they are to act as a Secret Santa (or Secret Student for those who don’t celebrate Santa) and perform random acts of kindness for the student they selected.
I saw students pat each other on the back and whisper words of encouragement, freely give genuine compliments, write thoughtful notes to each other, and eagerly help clean up the classroom at the end of the day.

I told my students they had to be sneaky!!! They had to perform random acts of kindness for ALL kids in our class….not just the student they selected! After all, the name of the game is SECRET Santa!!!
This student got many well wishes on her desk when she returned from a half day absence!
The students performed random acts of kindness for three days. Each Secret Santa then made a portrait…not of themselves…but of the student who they had been performing random acts of kindness for!

Today, we had our Secret Santa reveal, and OH MY they were excited!!!
This brave little boy went first! He held up the portrait of his selected student and asked, “Guess who I was Secret Santa for?” This student then gave a couple of the random acts of kindness that he did for his selected student. For example, “I told the student that I liked her sweater” and “I asked the student if she wanted to be my partner for the math game.” The audience members quickly identified who his Secret Santa was!
Here is the boy presenting the portrait that he made of the student he selected.
Then….the little girl presented! She used the same format and asked, “Guess who I was Secret Santa for?” and then listed the random acts of kindness she performed. The little boy identified his portrait right away and also thanked the little girl for her acts of kindness!

We kept on going until it was the teacher’s turn!!! (Yes, OF COURSE I played this game, too!) This little girl was my Secret Santa! She brought me a butterfly today, made me several cards, a homemade cookie (or two!), and gave me lots of nice compliments in the past few days. I knew it was her!!!

We continued until all students revealed their secrets!!

And as a sweet, finishing touch to this act of kindness, the each student got to take home a portrait of themselves, created by their Secret Santa!

Of course, I had to make this way more academic and added an adjective lesson to this project!!! (Kinda like our Little Old Lady Projects!)

This lesson must have made some sort of lasting impression on the kids…they are all of a sudden very eager to help the janitor at the end of the day by sweeping up the scraps on the floor.

And also writing him “thank you for cleaning our classroom” notes on our ancient chalkboard.
 Day one was a success!!!!

This idea is part of my larger file Kindness for Kids in the Classroom, Community, and School Setting!

Purchase this resource on Teachers Pay Teachers by clicking HERE.

Save 10% by purchasing directly from my website.

Come back tomorrow for some more random acts of kindness!!