AFC BIRCH: Think about kindness

After our Kindness celebration last week, we have sought for ways to keep our minds centered around all of those wonderful feelings we discovered.

Today for Think About it Thursday our friends were asked

What does it feel like to be kind?

"Loving" RM EM

"Helpful" CF JI

"Nice" JA

"Happy" CG

Then friends began to tell me what being kind LOOKS like!

"When people fall and I help them." LB

"Sharing and playing with everyone" JI

MS you told me being kind feels "silly", and you made a BIG smiley face. I notice your nose was all wrinkled up like a bunny, your shoulders curled up, your hands clasped together. Your face looked happy! We talked about a silly-happy feeling. Then you shared more.

"When someone is sad I make a silly face to cheer them up." MS

NOW I understand! Your kindness is making your friends feel better with a silly face.!

Kindness isn't just something for others. It makes US feel better inside too!

We headed outside for a bit today and it wasn't very long before we caught some friends showing us exactly what kindness can look like.

Our Sycamore friends were heading in and these Birch friends helped clean up their materials all on their own! Helping others is definitely kind!

As we came inside we set up invitations that allowed our friends to think more about kindness.

What does it feel like?

What words are kind?

What does it look like?

As we continue to be collectors of words today we focused our words on those that are kind.

"Love" MT

K, you spent a long time thinking about words that are kind. I can tell you were thinking about words that are kind to SAY and words that feel good when you hear them too!

"I love you"

Those are beautiful kind words!

"Ms L I have a new kind word, 'cute'!" CG

Giving a person a compliment is most certainly kind!

With all of our talk about kindness it was no wonder that our friends hearts were full of positive feelings

"My heart feels happy. Hearts and flowers make me happy." AD

AD you were at this table for a long time drawing and smiling the whole time. As we all talked together at the table we discussed how we were all feeling. I heard,

"Happy" AD

"Good" CW

"Happy" MT

I wondered aloud if your "happy" and "good" feelings were the same.

"I feel SO happy!" AD

"I'm just regular happy." MT

You are all telling me you are happy. I wonder, how can you tell when a friend is happy?

"You can see the smile." MT

"I'm happy to be at school. This is my happy smile!" AD

Then you rolled up the picture that you had created. The one filled to overflowing with images that bring you joy...butterflies, hearts, flowers, your name, and a person...and you gave it to me.

"This is for you." AD

And now, MY heart if happy!

Giving a gift feels kind and makes both of our hearts happy!

"A hug makes my heart happy." AD

And just like that, I got ANOTHER gift from you, the best hug ever!

AD, being at school makes your heart happy, and when you are at school MY heart is happy too!

While many friends came to this invitation intent on drawing, ESE you focused on a different aspect.

You picked up our "feelings balls" as some of our friends have called them and began telling me how those colors make you feel.

"I love the pink one, and the rainbow one." ESE

You were manipulating the colors in your hands and on your paper. I wondered how you might use the markers to show me how your heart was feeling.

I watched as you first put two colors on your paper and then traced around them with a matching marker. Then you gathered up the rest of the feelings balls and began placing them in groups inside the circles.

You are such a kind friend who enjoys playing with everyone. I imagine you are thinking about those beautiful colorful feelings faces as those of you and your friends. Being all together makes your heart happy, and that is just what you showed me!