Kindness Connection: 2015 - 2016

During the 2015 - 2016 school year, Houghton Elementary School celebrated Kindness Connection Week beginning on Monday, January 25th and ending on Friday, January 29th with Kindness Connection Day on that Wednesday, January 27, 2016. In order to kick off this theme of kindness, community readers read the book, The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig, to all students on November 13, 2015. Community readers included local business owners, Wachusett Regional School District's Central Office staff, and other important members of Houghton Elementary School's community. Throughout Kindness Connection Week, former Community Reading Day and Kindness Connection Day books were read to students.

On Monday of Kindness Connection Week, all students were given lanyards and name badges with their pictures and colorful hand print stickers on them, which represented their ability to do many acts of kindness with their own hands. The book, The Invisible Boy, was reread to all students by their teachers in order to remind children of the theme of kindness and the importance of being kind. Teachers and students then had a discussion focusing on the school value of Responsibility and the theme of acknowledging others for doing something well/kind. Students were also given a small orange hand sticker to put on the back of their name badges, which corresponded to the color of the school value of Responsibility.

On Tuesday of this week, students were read the book, Have You Filled a Bucket Today? by Carol McCloud. Teachers and students then had a discussion focusing on the school value of Respect and the theme of complimenting others. Students were also given a small red hand sticker to put on the back of their name badges, which corresponded to the color of the school value of Respect.

On Wednesday of this week, students were read the book, Beautiful Hands by Bret Baumgarten and Kathryn Otoshi. Teachers and students then had a discussion focusing on the school value of Kindness and the theme of engaging in acts of service. Students were also given a small yellow hand sticker to put on the back of their name badges, which corresponded to the color of the school value of Kindness. Due to the fact that this was officially Kindness Connection Day, classes were encouraged to engage in an act of kindness on this day such as making cards for people in need, creating bulletin boards about kindness around the school, and creating/hanging kindness quotes around the school (see pictures below). The students did a great job of spreading kindness and color to our own school as well as to the community. Furthermore, all teachers wore matching blue shirts with the following words on the front: Kindness...Pass It On.

On Thursday of this week, students were read the book, The Kindness Quilt by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace. Teachers and students then had a discussion focusing on the school value of Honesty and the theme of apologizing to others when doing wrong and forgiving others for doing wrong. Students were also given a small blue hand sticker to put on the back of their name badges, which corresponded to the color of the school value of Honesty.

Finally, on Friday of this week, students were read the book, Ordinary Mary's Extraordinary Deed by Emily Pearson. Teachers and students then had a discussion focusing on the school value of Cooperation and the theme of encouraging and smiling at others. Students were also given a small green hand sticker to put on the back of their name badges, which corresponded to the color of the school value of Cooperation. Students were allowed to bring home their lanyards and name badges at the end of this week.