CLASSROOM REWARDS SERIES: THE KINDNESS JAR
ALL ABOUT KINDNESS JAR
The kindness jar is a simple jar with an added label used to help promote acts of kindness among your students. Acts of kindness can be simple things children say or do that demonstrate a concern or care for others. Promoting kindness is an important part of helping children build a sense of empathy for others. You can use the kindness jar in your classroom as a rewards system, for World Kindness Day or for a specific project or timeframe for students to promote kindness in and out of the classroom. I like to pair the kindness jar with a simple read aloud that helps to introduce the idea of spreading kindness. One of my favorite books about kindness is Tomorrow I’ll Be Kind.
TOMORROW ILL BE KIND
Tomorrow I’ll Be Kind is a follow up to the award winning book Tomorrow I’ll Be Brave. Tomorrow I’ll Be Kind by Jessica Hische encourages students that tomorrow, they will be grateful, helpful, and kind. It is a great book for social emotional learning as students will learn about ways they can be kind and helpful to their peers. You can find a digital version of the read aloud for Tomorrow I’ll be Kind by clicking here.
UTILIZING THE KINDNESS JAR IN YOUR CLASS
You can implement the kindness jar in your classroom using any book that is centered on kindness. Other book alternatives include Kindness Starts With You by Jacquelyn Stagg, Kindness Is My Superpower by Alicia Ortego, Be Kind by Willow Creek Press, The Kindness Book by Todd Parr and more. After reading Tomorrow I’ll Be Kind, I like to brainstorm a list of kind acts with my students. This helps to give students ideas of ways that they can show kindness to others. As students show acts of kindness, you can add items to the jar until the jar is filled to your desired level. This can be filling the jar, filling it up to a certain height, or filling it with a specific number of items. The options are endless.
For our kindness jar, we filled the jar with pom poms, but you can use any items you have on hand in your classroom. If you’re interested in creating a kindness jar for your classroom, you can pick up my free kindness Jar Labels by using the link below. I’ve also included links to purchase other books centered around kindness below!
OTHER KINDNESS BOOKS YOU CAN USE IN YOUR CLASSROOM
