I Am What I Teach: August 2014

In my classroom, another way we share our kindness with others is through giving to others. This fall we have supported the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona when our school did a drive, and as a class we participated in Trick-Or-Treat for UNICEF. I am so proud of my students for collecting coins to give to others when I know many of them are in need of the assistance themselves.

Here's how we did this year:

27 Boxes handed out.

5 HEAVY Boxes Returned

A visit to the Coinstar Machine to count all of the
coins and deposit them with no charge!

693 Pennies, 57 Nickels,

67 Dimes, 42 Quarters

A few coins were from foreign lands and rejected by the machine.
(It's the thought that counts!)

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We accepted and passed on the kindness challenge as a school! We pledged to complete 2000 kind acts during this school year. If we are successful the principal at the challenged school will wear our shirts for a week!!

Watch "Ben's Bells at Rivera Elementary School" on YouTube

Ben's Bells at Rivera Elementary School: http://youtu.be/Te1QSYYaXUQ

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Kindness Conference

I got a special invitation to attend the Kindness Conference with my school today! It was a great opportunity to learn about Ben's Bells, and how kindness affects others through a scientific perspective and research. I found some of it really meaningful for me personally. and gathered many more reasons to teach about Kindness in my classroom.

Event Program

Keynote Speaker: James Coan, PhDSpoke about how person to person interaction affects the brain.

Jeanette Mare
Shared her story of how Ben's Bells came to be.
It was founded through her grieving for her son who passed away to
recognize the kindness that helped her through the hard time.

She gave us ideas of how to help kids understand Kindness
as we create and encourage a Kind Campus.

This is my "Weatherman" to help me take a better look at a
situation before reacting so I can act with Kindness. This is great
to help kids understand a different perspective in a problem.

After lunch Data Talk - How the foundation is growing
and making a difference across the U.S.A.

Panel of High School Students, Teachers, and a Superintendent
who support the Kindness mission! They shared ideas and experiences
while answering questions from the audience.

Everyone can use more practice being Kind, so here's my reminder!

Thanks Maria for the sticker I'm proud to be in a Kind school!

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