Hands of Kindness for Newtown

I really wanted to take a moment and discuss the sad news from Friday with my class this morning but also wanted to do it in an age appropriate way for my Grade 3's. Here's what I came up with...

My students had some questions about the tragic events of Newtown, CN this morning when school started but some of them had not even heard of it happening. We discussed it very briefly. 

I first asked them what they already knew as I didn't want to go into any kind of unnecessary details. Naturally some of them very upset by the events and seemed a little shaken. 

To transition them into a more positive mode I read the book "Whoever You Are" by Mem Fox (love that book!). We talked about the author's message (gotta get a little curriculum in where you can) and they were bang on. I felt very proud.

I talked a little about how the events from Friday made the world feel a little less kind to some people and that many people felt very sad by the events. I explained that I thought we could help by putting more kindness back into the world and paying very close attention to our words and actions. Then we brainstormed as many words that had to do with kindness as possible. 

Look at this impressive list!

And then we made a craft I decided to call Hand of Kindness. I first saw this idea on Pinterest (of course) and adapted it for this important activity.

Here's a look at how some of them turned out...pretty powerful, I think.

I am so proud of my students today and the touching memorial they created for the students, teachers and families of Newton.