Kindness Connection: 2016 - 2017

During the 2016 - 2017 school year, Houghton Elementary School celebrated Kindness Connection Week beginning on Monday, January 23rd and ending on Friday, January 27th with Kindness Connection Day on that Wednesday, January 25, 2017. In order to kick off this theme of kindness, community readers read the book, What Does It Mean To Be Kind? by Rana DiOrio, to kindergarten, first, and second grade students and the book, The Goodness Gorillas by Lisa McCourt, to third and fourth grade students on November 10, 2016. 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.

During the first week of January, teachers read the book, Only One You by Linda Kranz, to all children in order to introduce the Kindness Connection theme for this year, specifically Kindness Rocks! The Kindness Rocks Project is a movement that began in Cape Cod by a woman who wanted to spread inspiration and motivation to unsuspecting people. She decided to do so by leaving rocks decorated with pictures and/or inspirational messages on the beach for people to find. We decided to become a part of this movement at Houghton Elementary by creating our own rocks. We will be making kindness rock gardens around Sterling in the spring in order to spread happiness and kindness to our community. For more information on this theme, please visit The Kindness Rocks Project website at http://thekindnessrocksproject.com/.

During Kindness Connection Week, all students were given lanyards and name badges with their pictures and a heart-shaped sticker with the words You Rock! on them. Students were encouraged to wear their name badges every day this week to serve as a visual reminder of the importance of being kind.

During art classes this week, children created their own kindness rocks with the help of Mrs. Greene and parent volunteers! In the spring, these rocks will be displayed as part of rock gardens around Sterling in order to spread happiness, inspiration, and motivation to people in our community! A special thanks to Mrs. Greene and all of our parent volunteers! Here are pictures of some of the rocks that our students made as well as the students in the process of making the rocks!

On Monday of Kindness Connection Week, teachers read the book, The Kindness Quilt by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace, to all children in order to introduce/remind children of the theme of kindness. This book was introduced to students as part of the Kindness Connection theme in the 2012 - 2013 school year.

On Tuesday of Kindness Connection Week, teachers read the book, The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig, to all children in order to continue teaching children about the theme of kindness. This book was introduced to students during the 2015 - 2016 Community Reading Day.

On Wednesday of Kindness Connection Week, teachers read the book, What Does It Mean To Be Kind? by Rana DiOrio, to all children in order to continue teaching children about the theme of kindness. This book was introduced to kindergarten, first, and second grade students during this year's Community Reading Day. Third and fourth grade students were exposed to this text for the first time on Kindness Connection Day of this year.

On Thursday of Kindness Connection Week, teachers read the book, Beautiful Hands by Bret Baumgarten and Kathryn Otoshi, to all children in order to continue teaching children about the theme of kindness. This book was introduced to students as part of the 2015 - 2016 Kindness Connection theme.

On Friday of Kindness Connection Week, teachers read the book, Have You Filled a Bucket Today? by Carol McCloud, to all children in order to culminate the week of teaching children about the importance of being kind. This book was introduced to students as part of the Kindness Connection theme in the 2011 - 2012 school year.