Our school vision is to promote creativity, curiosity, critical thinking and compassion - so that our wonderful students may become responsible, resilient life-long learners. Compassion and kindness are the basis for connecting, giving and receiving, changing gears and shifting our mood and approach, solving problems, restoring the spirit and safe-guarding our environment. Lochside is doing a special school-wide kindness project – read more here.
Kindness is . . .
- showing you care about people, animals and the earth
- showing concern for others who seem sad or distressed
- doing small gestures to brighten people's day
You practice kindness by noticing when someone or something needs care. You practice kindness by using your imagination to think of things that give others happiness – your family, friends and teachers, even to people you are just getting to know. You use kindness when you are tempted to be cruel or to tease – and you decide not to do it. You use kindness when you accept that all people are different and you appreciate them for who they are.
At Lochside we are putting a spotlight on kindness. In classrooms kids are learning about positive thinking and 'filling your bucket'. As a school-wide project we are doing the following:
Stage One - We had an assembly to present skits and the message about how important kindness is to making Lochside a great place to be. Peacekeepers are giving out green 'bracelets', made from fuzzy pipecleaners. They are acknowledging the younger students and each other for their kindness and focus on helping others.
We learned to chant:
Hey everybody, look over here
Kindness is happenin', let's give it a cheer
Yaaaay (insert name of person caught being kind)!
Stage Two - In February we are going to have a “Pass it On Week”. Children can gift their bracelet to a friend and acknowledge how the kindness helped them out. We are also going to create a display of random acts of kindness for our intermediate students, using the bulletin board by the gym.
Stage Three - During the week of Pink Shirt Day on Feb. 26, parents and teachers will receive a Kindness Bingo Game to play/fill in.
Please join with us and create a kindness wave every day...
- SMILE!
- State your appreciation
- Let someone go first
- Share a thought, a story...
- Invite someone to play
- Hold a door open for someone
- Compliment someone
- Care for our environment
- Interesting reading about kindness:
This article refers to research published in the Journal of Social Psychology and at the Harvard Business and UBC. The research confirms the positive effects of kindness to self and others:
http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/kindness_makes_you_happy_and_happiness_makes_you_kind