Pay It Forward

Prior to winter break, my 5th and 6th grade guidance lessons were about Random Acts of Kindness and Paying it Forward. With all of the excitement surrounding the holidays and receiving gifts, it felt appropriate to talk about helping others. We watched the YouTube video above in order to spark discussion about what it means to pay it forward. I liked the fact that this video is created by middle school students. After a class discussion, students broke into groups to brainstorm lists of activities they could do in our own school and community. Below are some of the ideas they came up with. For our class activity, students wrote down one act they pledged to do over break on a piece of construction paper that I provided. We discussed how kindness is often contagious. In order to visually demonstrate the "chain reaction" kindness has, students created a festive red and green chain of garland out of the their construction paper pledges. We hung our finished product to decorate the hallway. On their way out the door, students received RAK cards to document any of their good deeds and have them displayed on the Giving Tree bulletin board.

1. Put together a coat drive
2. Clean up neighbors lawns
3. Write letters to neighbors
4. Make cookies or muffins for teachers
5. Volunteer at the soup kitchen
6. Shovel snow for free
7. Mow lawns for free
8. Make cards for teachers
9. Make motivational posters to put around the school
10. Give compliments
11. Put together a food drive
12. Donate clothing
13. Leave something on the table for the waitress/waiter in addition to tip (like a note)
14. Ask principal permission to throw a party for the 6th grade teachers
15. Put together a bake sale and donate the profits
16. Do a car wash and donate the money to charity
17. Clean your parents room for them
18. Donate books to the library

Resource: https://www.randomactsofkindness.org/