Where have I been? Wow, so many months have gone by without an update on the blog. I hope you have been well. It has been a busy school year in my role as a District Inclusion Resource Teacher: Competency based IEPs, many new kiddos on my caseload, meetings, mentoring, and learning. I have been promoting kindness for many years, but the busy-ness of my job has made me pivot to self-kindness, self-care and wellness. Stretching, movement, whole food eating, mindfulness, and gratitude journaling have all become part of my day. If I didn't take time to do these things, I wouldn't be well, and I ha ..read more

The start of the school year brings bright bulletin board displays, new school supplies, shiny floors, and clean desks. The set-up of a classroom is pretty, but for the best learning environment, the first six weeks of school are a time to slowly weave social-emotional learning into the day, establish connections with students, build a classroom or school community, create a sense of belonging, and develop strong relationships. Studies show that when students feel like they don’t belong, it impacts their well-being, they show more unexpected behaviours, and do not engage with learning. If chil ..read more

⭐️CREATING A CULTURE OF KINDNESS - Whole School or Classroom activity When I was an elementary school principal, connection and kindness were the center of my practice and philosophy. It still is! I do miss the opportunity to do whole school activities to promote kindness and community, but hopefully, I can share them here, and you can do them in your school! One whole school activity that I loved to do was the Student Spotlight. At the start of the school year, every student completed a Student Spotlight form. Rather than focusing on favorite foods, movies, or colors, we focused on strengths ..read more

Introducing the newest fan and honorary marketing manager for Kindness & Stories! I am enjoying some Nonna time with my first grandchild this summer, and couldn't resist the opportunity to take some marketing content photos ..read more

I am not sure how kindness found its way into my teaching and leadership practice. I think back can’t seem to find the one event or moment that led me to kindness. I suppose it was the way I felt when encouraging kindness and seeing kindness in action. Or maybe how I felt when kindness was shown to me. Perhaps it was because I wanted my students to realize how much kindness can help strengthen and improve our relationships with others. Regardless of the reason, kindness has been a focal point in my teaching and leadership. It is something I value greatly and makes each day a joy. It has connec ..read more

One of my favorite months of the year is here! February is filled with so many opportunities for kindness with Valentine's Day, Random Acts of Kindness Week and Day, and Pink Shirt Day. Which is why I created an 8 Day Classroom Kindness Challenge! Head on over to the Kindness Challenge tab on my website for this printable calendar and details for this 8 day challenge. The activities are easy to do and will create a culture of kindness in your classroom and school. Do as few or as many as you want! I would love to see any photos or hear about your own kindness activities this week. Let kindness ..read more

Hello my friends! I hope that the holiday season was kind to you. I have neglected my website and haven't posted or uploaded new resources in awhile, so my gift to you is three new lesson plans: one for each of my books. You will find a lesson plan for "What Kind of World Would It Be?" called "Hands Are For Helping", which goes along with the worksheet of the same name. A beautiful "I Love You Art Project" that was created and implemented by Laurie McIntosh with her own Kindergarten class is in lesson plan format on my website. This is a great project for your students to do for Valentine's Da ..read more

My school community has learned and practiced resilience this past year, and it was tested again this week. On Sunday, I received a call that there was a landslide on the bank immediately behind our school, behind the fence, but adjacent to our school yard, blacktop, and outdoor garden. When I arrived at the school, I couldn't believe what I saw. Trees piled like toothpicks, massive amounts of soil pulled away from the bank, sand, pebbles, and rocks continuing to trickle and drop down. There was now a huge gap behind a large section of our school, where trees, bushes, and shrubs, once bordered ..read more

This school year our staff and students are feeling a bit disengaged with the Covid-19 Health and Safety regulations. We are a school that participates in many whole-school activities, monthly assemblies, multi-grade events, buddy classes, and school jobs. These create a sense of strong community, and have been put aside because we cannot meet as a large group. When browsing the internet for bulletin board ideas, I came across the Kindness Tree. This idea is not my original idea, but as with all great ideas, they are worth copying and sharing! I created two Kindness trees in the school: one by ..read more

One of my favorite activities is to create and hide kindness rocks. They are so therapeutic to create, and I enjoy placing them in high profile areas where many people can enjoy them. On the back of each rock, I let the finder know that they can keep them or re-hide them. Lately I have been leaving some by the mailboxes in our residential area, and they disappear daily! Other locations I have placed them are along our community walking trails, in the parking lots of grocery stores, at local schools, and lakeside recreation sites. Last month a parent at my school sent me a photo of her children ..read more