August -- Sewing the Seeds

• Create a kinder culture in your school. Speak at the first faculty meeting of the year, and invite staff and administrators to be involved.
• Invite teachers to discuss their obstacles in the classroom, and brainstorm ways to overcome them through our programs.
• Create a Kindness Committee to set goals for the year. This committee can include administrators, teachers, a BJC Healthcare consultant, parents and students.

September -- Let Good Friends "Fall" Into Place

• Speak at the first PTA meeting and invite parents to play an active role in the Kindness Committee.
• Invite students to join the committee. Brainstorm kindness ideas, such as:
  • Flyers/Posters/Poster Contests
  • Announcements
  • Bulletin Boards Displays
  • Skits for Assemblies
  • Reading/Essay Projects

The best ideas are often those generated by the students.

• Have an all school assembly to raise awareness of the program
• Discuss with students the ease with which people can become friends simply by being respectful. Point out to students that being kind today could result in more people thinking positively about them by the end of the school year.

October -- Festival of Friendship

• Instead of giving plain candy, have students write compliments and deposit them in each other’s bags, or write kind things and tape candy to the notes
• Students brainstorm ways to encourage friendship in their school, such as cheering someone during a sport or being patient with slower learners.

November -- Harvest of Kindness

• Teach students how to write thank you notes to friends or family
• Discuss ways that being kind to others comes back in return
• Be an example of gratitude -- thank three people for small favors

December -- Give the Gift of Friendship

• Ask students to write encouraging notes with inexpensive gifts ($1 or less) for their secret holiday pals. At the school holiday party, the pals reveal themselves to each other.
• Instead of thinking only of gifts, encourage students to express kindness to friends and family during the holidays.

January -- Renew Old Friendships

• Ask students to share stories from the holidays with each other.
• A new year can bring change to the school, so encourage students to mend broken friendships or simply catch up with friends they haven’t seen for the past few weeks.

February -- Friendship Is Forever

• This month is all too often centered on romance; instead, focus on another type of relationship – friendship.
• When a classmate shows someone an act of kindness, the recipient writes the act on a heart and hangs it in the classroom.

March -- Find Your Pot of Gold in Friendship

• Participate in National No Name Calling Week during the first week of March; incorporate an essay or poster contest or the opportunity to speak at an all school assembly.
• Each classroom raises money for a designated charity; the classroom raising the most money receives school-wide recognition
• Students write "I am lucky because. . ." statements, which can conclude with: “…my parents love me,” “…people were nice to me this week,” “…I go to a good school,” etc. This raises students’ awareness of the good things happening in their lives and that they can make good things happen in the lives of others, too.

April -- Shower Each Other with Kindness

• Organize a school-wide clean-up day, during which students pick up trash on the school grounds, help with the gardening, spread mulch, etc.
• Having inside recess because of rain? Facilitate a game for the whole class, like Hot Potato, Heads Up Seven Up, Team Wheel of Fortune and others.
• Kindness is contagious, so help students display a Kindness Quilt showing ways to spread kindness to other people.

May -- Super Summer

• Students create Going-away posters for other classes, such as "We will miss you, eighth graders -- good luck in high school!" or "Have a good summer, Kindergarten. We look forward to seeing you in first grade!"
• Students write their plans for the summer and include one way they will show kindness to others over the summer