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Kindness Week at Elementary Schools
From dinosaurs to deliveries, Windsor’s three elementary schools celebrated Kindness Week with a range of activities focused on positivity and compassion.

Palmer Elementary principal Toby Youngs and school counselor Sandra Tredo delivered kindness cards and letters in-person students created to the school’s 31 remote learners.
“I’m hopeful that by doing this all of our remote students and families will recognize just how much we miss them and look forward to having them back in school with us someday in the near future,” said Mrs. Tredo.

The remote-learning families appreciated the gesture.

“It’s really good because I don’t get to see my friends anymore. So, to see them in pictures is better than seeing them in a yearbook,” said Palmer Elementary 5th grader Delaney Dixon.

“We’re grateful to be connected to the school. They do a great job including (the remote students),” said Nancy Dixon, Delaney’s mother.
At Weeks Elementary, students took pictures at a kindness photo booth. 

School counselor Liz Sharkan took pictures of students holding signs that had compassionate phrases or acts of kindness. She displayed the photos on the video screen in the school’s cafeteria.

“We wanted the students to take ownership of their kind behaviors and show that, as a community, kindness can lift everyone up,” said Sharkan.  
And that wasn’t all. Weeks student council president Gianna Sodon wore a dinosaur costume while handing out compliments to her fellow students. She wanted to show that kindness is not extinct.

“It was fun to be silly and make other students feel good,” said Sodon.

At Bell Elementary, the week of activities included teachers issuing “Caught Showing Kindness” slips. Teachers would see students acting kindly, write a description of the act, and hang the slip on a display on the hallway. A copy also went home with the student.

Bell school counselor Lori Fisher led a powerful lesson with the school’s 4th and 5th graders. She had them write the kind and unkind words they have had in school on a google sheet only Fisher could see. Fisher then read the words from the document.

 “I read the unkind words and I saw the shock on their faces and I asked them, ‘Do you know where I found these words? They’re words said here at school.' We discussed the feelings when they heard the unkind words. They were shocked and angry. Then we talked about the feelings we had when we heard kind words. They felt loved, safe, happy, calm, and proud. It was more powerful because it was real, and not a made-up lesson,” said Fisher.
Adriano Canfield, a 5th grader who is a member of Bell Elementary Student Council, made cards for friends and teachers around the building. He also made cards for cafeteria employees because of all of the extra work they have been doing to make food for remote learners.

“I did it so they can feel appreciated for what they do. I remembered that all of the teachers and people in the building are working so hard to keep us safe, healthy, and fed,” said Canfield.

“It’s been nice to see that the kids are excited about kindness. Given the situation with COVID, there are many activities we can’t do. Kindness week is something we can do,” said Fisher.