Random Acts of Kindness Week

Random Acts of Kindness Week

It is officially Random Acts of Kindness Week. Sponsored by the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation (RAKF), the goal is to “inspire people to practice kindness and pass it on to others.”

Random Acts of Kindness can be an excellent culmination for schools actively participating in character education. Students learning about honesty, kindness, courage, grace, generosity and more have the opportunity to look at their character education as a whole while putting it into practice.

The RAKF website is full of classroom resources, including research on kindness in schools, lesson plans and classroom activities, and more. You’ll find hundreds of “Kindness Ideas,” small acts of kindness to get you involved. They range from donating books to the library to cleaning up graffiti and everything in between. You may come up with your own activities that are easier done in your school, like having your students clean up the lunch trays for another class one day.

For high school students, PBS Learning Media has a video on altruism. In it, students explore the acts of a kidney donor, 9/11 first responder, and villagers in Southern France during World War II. While these acts are more grandiose than what RAKF is focusing on this week, they are not out of bounds and may well serve to entice some inspiring writing prompts and creative positive acts from your students this week.

How are you recognizing Random Acts of Kindness Week at your school?