Transcript
0:00 want to talk a little bit about the kindness treat so often in our classrooms we're always focused on the behavior and what kids are not doing or what they're doing that's not okay with us pretty much but we're shifting that instead of focusing on what's not going well we're going to start focusing on what is going well and what's kind and helpful as opposed to what's hurtful okay and so one of the ways that we do that is through a structure called
0:25 the kindness tree which is noticing acts of kindness now the kindness tree is not about getting a heart and writing down what someone's done and documenting it and putting it up on the wall okay that's a whole another thing the kindness tree is just about collecting it's a collective acts of kindness as a school family so it's not about documenting what was done or who did it it's just that it happened and this is part of our school family so Paulie's
0:52 going to show you one way you can do a tree that's on the wall you can hang hearts on and so the way I've done it is that we started the kindness tree and we would hang hearts on the tree one year we hang we hung uh we put marbles in a jar and the way that I introduced this was on day one when the kids came into school I modeled with my teaching assistant and what I would say was Miss
1:15 Polly you went over and you helped um you helped ion open his milk that was helpful I'm going to put a heart on the kindness treat well the kids didn't know what I was doing but I was modeling that and after modeling that for a while then we went and we talked about it and what was it and could they do it or either I might say come on Polly so and so just picked up just tied somebody's shoe
1:37 let's go put a heart on the kindness tree I was part of that in the beginning that's how you start it and again then they take it over then this becomes a job for me it was just super simple took these flowers I would take them out at the end of every day and then when someone was kind and helpful we would just put a flower in the pot at the end of each day it was a counting activity
1:58 and I came to notice on the days that I wasn't having such a great day when I was not in my executive State I'd look at the flower pot it would have like three flowers in it right and that was a great reminder to myself what was I focusing on in the classroom it really is my state of mind that's going to determine how I see things so so it's just a great reminder for you
Summary
- The kindness tree encourages a focus on positive behaviors rather than negative ones.
- It involves collecting acts of kindness as a school family without documenting individual contributions.
- Teachers model acts of kindness to students, demonstrating how to recognize and celebrate helpful actions.
- Activities can include hanging hearts on a tree or adding flowers to a pot as a visual representation of kindness.
- The kindness tree serves as a reminder for teachers to maintain a positive mindset, especially on challenging days.
- It promotes a sense of community and reinforces the importance of kindness in the classroom.