Kindness Week

"Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." 

Ephesians 4:32

As we celebrated a holiday centered around love, we learned a little bit about the Bible's definition of love.

 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. I Corinthians 13:4-7 (NIV)

 

In the week before Valentine's Day, we put a special emphasis on kindness.  Our Kindness Week culminated in a Valentine's Day celebration. Early Childhood students were all smiles as they painted hearts in the Resource Room.

After painting, teachers spied a  girl demonstrating pure kindness. As our class was cleaning up, the three-year-old class was coming to the Resource Room for their turn to paint. One of our sweet students noticed noticed a Pre-K3 child who needed help washing her hands. Without being asked, and without calling attention to herself, our T1 student quietly began helping the little girl wash her hands. What a beautiful way to demonstrate the love of Jesus!
 Kindness begins at home. Parents sent in photos of children being helpers around the house. The bulletin board in the hall documents their acts of kindness.

Since Mardi Gras comes right after Valentine's Day, our special treat took the shape of a King Cake.

 

Our class was quite creative in their Valentine box design.

All week we were on the lookout for students going above and beyond the call of duty to be nice to their friends. And no, we weren't perfect. We still had our moments when some of the kids lapsed into tattling and arguing. And just when I was beginning to wonder if the week-long lessons on kindness had made any impact at all, I saw this beautiful sight:

Several of the boys had worked together to build a parking garage for the toy cars. Then I overheard this conversation:

Student 1: Can I play with the red car?

Student 2: But I'm playing with that one.

Student 3: Hey, guys, remember it's Kindness Week.

Student 2: Okay, you can have the red car.