Teaching Kids to Use Kind Words and Compliments in Your Classroom

It's cold, it's dreary, no one gets much outside time...and my students are on one another's nerves and are fighting like siblings.  I'm not alone, right?  This happens every year, and to combat some of those negative feelings, I started a really simple and fun way to spread some cheer when my students need it the most.

I've implemented a Kindness Matters campaign during the month of February. It's easy, and it makes everyone feel good.  It even gets kids writing each morning.

I start by reading Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch by Eileen Spinelli, which is a wonderful book.  The theme is spreading kindness, and the central message is that one small act can change someone's day.  We talk about the power of words, smiles, lending a hand, etc, and that kindness is contagious.

Then I do a lesson giving compliments. I love using the book called Thanks for the Feedback by Julia Cook (side note- Julia Cook has a book for pretty much any and all character education lessons!  She's so good!)

I have a whole set of compliment starters for students to use.  This helps give them the words that they need to give genuine compliments, instead of 20 kids saying, I like your shirt.  We do a compliment circle and practice giving and receiving compliments.

The next day, we start our February Kindness Matters.  Each morning, I put the names of two students on the board.  Each person writes a kind compliment to each of those students.  I make it part of the morning routine.  We collect them in the large envelopes seen in picture.  Target has them with the Valentine Dollar Spot stuff each year, and they're so cute.  At the end of the day, I gather and clip them together and leave them at the kids' seats for them to read the next morning.  The kids LOVE reading them.  I love that each person is stretched to find something good in each person in our class.  Every few days, I'll read a few great compliments to the class to highlight strong examples.  It's really heartwarming.

The compliment starters are displayed on the Kindness Matters bulletin board, but students also keep a copy inside of their writers' notebooks.  Compliment starters and writing papers are part of my Compliment Starters and Cards resource.  The bulletin board banner is a freebie from Especially Education, and it's adorable.

14