The idea for the Kindness Read Aloud was inspired by #MindsetMondayLRSD Read Aloud by Annick Rauch and Nycol Didcote, two fantastic educators from Winnipeg, Canada, as well as #PassionforKindness by Tamara Letter, an amazing educator from Virginia, USA. I loved the wonderful things they were both doing, and wanted to incorporate their valuable ideas into learning experiences I was providing for my students, and as a result #KindnessCrewCRSS was born!
During the month of February, I invite you and your students to join in our first #KindnessCrewCRSS Kindness Read Aloud. A book with a theme of kindness and empathy will be introduced by the hosting class each week for four weeks. You and your students will engage in learning about kindness and empathy, through meaningful questioning, discussion, reflection, and maybe even action! Hopefully your students will be inspired to begin to complete some Random Acts of Kindness (RAKs). You will also be able to connect and share your learning with classrooms globally through Twitter slow chats if you choose.
Importance of Kindness
We all know that warm, glowing feeling on the inside when someone is kind to us. It’s important that our students also experience that feeling and learn how to foster that feeling in others. Our classroom, school and wider communities flourish when we’re kind to each other! We see others more positively and empathise with them, and what’s more, we feel good about ourselves too. #KindnessCrewCRSS will help you and your students explore different children’s literature focusing on kindness and empathy, identifying how easy it is to be kind, and the positive impact that being kind can have on others, as well as ourselves.
For more information on the benefits of kindness, click here.
What you can expect?
Each week, you and your students will be invited to watch a prerecorded video of a book with a kindness theme being read by the hosting class. Throughout the book, the hosting students will invite you to answer questions based on the book and your experiences. You can share your learning using the Q1 A1 format on Twitter. Don’t forget to include the #KindnessCrewCRSS hashtag in your answers. If a certain book inspires you further, feel free to share your extended activities through art, poetry, blogs, #BookSnaps, video reflections, etc. to the hashtag. Please note that you can view the video and participate in the slow Twitter chat as it fits into your schedule that week! Watch for new blog posts coming out every Sunday that will include all of the info you need for the week, including what class is hosting, what book they will be reading, the video link, and the Slow Twitter Chat questions.
Please let me know if you are interested in being a host class.
