By
Michelle Libby - The Windham Middle School student council under the direction
of Shelly Cook hosted a Kindness week this past week to correspond with
National Random Acts of Kindness Week. Each day teachers were asked to help
engage the students in something that would remind them of kindness.
“There’s
a need for kindness everywhere,” said Cook. “It’s important for kids to see
kindness being modeled by staff, then they’ll extend the kindness further.”
The
teachers were given a survival kit with objects to give out each day. On Monday
the students were asked to think of something they could do to help show
kindness. Suggestions were send a positive message to someone, hold the door
open for someone, offer to help clear a lunch table or thank your parents.
These were activities that anyone could be successful at.
“We
want students to recognize what it looks like, sounds like and feels like to be
kind, so it becomes part of our culture, part of our school and our community
of learners,” Cook said. All week students were reading and writing about
kindness in their classrooms. Teachers were excited to have a whole week to
focus their lessons on kindness.
On
Tuesday, the students were given a pencil to remind them to “Think about the
words they write, before they are permanent.”
Wednesday
students were given an eraser to remind them that “Everyone makes mistakes,
it’s okay. You can erase away any unkindness and start each new day with a
fresh, clean slate.” Wednesday was also custodial treat day, where everyone
acknowledged the custodians at the school
Thursday
teachers gave out gum to remind students to “stick to being kind.” Office staff
and education technicians were celebrated as well.
On
Friday, students were given a kindness sticker and anyone wearing their sticker
could earn free prized during the day. Teachers were celebrated on Friday. They
were given a special t-shirt that said “Proud to be a WMS teacher, keep calm
and teach at Windham MS.”
“Let
somebody impatient cut in front of you in the lunch line,” Cook suggested. “I’m
hoping that students will pick up on this and extend it into the future.”
Cook
is hoping that this will become a yearly event that the students will want to
continue next year and every day.
What
kindness means to Windham Middle School students:
"Be
the change you want to see in the world" —Gandhi
"Be
kind out of respect not because it’s 'Kindness Week'" —Austin grade 7
"People
should be kind to each other no matter what”—Tony grade 7
“Kindness
week means a favor, kind of like giving, a little thing that can makes
someone’s day feel special” Desiree and Kiara grade 7
"Be
kind to everyone” Emma grade 7
“If
someone drops something, pick it up”—Jack
"When
someone does nice things like carry your stuff” Sean
"Lots
of people take things for granted without saying thank you. I want people to
notice and say thank you.” Arianna grade 7
"Kindness
week is a good thing because it reminds people what it means to be nice.”
Kristen grade 7
"Being
kind to someone that may not be having a great day so they can feel better.”
Dakota grade 7
"A
small act of kindness can make a big difference.” Autumn grade 7
“The
little things make a big difference.” Madeline grade 7
“Be
kind to everyone you know and meet; that will bring you success.” Brennan
McGloin 8th grade
“Being
kind to people.” Kelsey
“To
accept peoples differences and know that we are all different.” Denali
“To
show people that being kind makes people feel better and if someone’s nice to
you it makes you feel better.” Chris
“To
do something kind or nice for someone else.” Kaila
“Being
kind to others makes a difference in the world.” Roya
“To
show that the school cares about kindness.” Lydia
“To
be kind to everyone.” Becca
“Being
nicer to people you don’t know” Alyssa
“While
being kind you create a chain reaction of kindness.” Julia
“Kindness
week is so people can feel good about themselves.” Rylee
“People
like feeling good about themselves and being nice to others so they can feel
good about themselves too.” Mikayla
“To
show respect to everyone.” Matt
“Kindness
week is to help others feel good about themselves.” Roscoe
“To
be able to share kindness with other people even if they aren’t kind back. Maybe
they’ll change their minds and become kinder.” Rylee
“Sharing
and caring.” Cam
“To
teach us to be kind.” Carissa
“Kindness
week is about helping others” JP
“Kindness
is good” Ryan
“It
makes people happy to be kind.” Bria
“Kindness
makes a difference in other’s lives and brings people up.” Olivia
“Being
kind is kind because it makes people happy.” Eli
“Being
kind: If you make somebody happy then they’ll probably try to make somebody
else happy too. It just keeps on going.” Dalton
“Everyone
wants to be treated kindly.” Dylan
“Treat
people the way you want to be treated.”
“Kind
is good.” James
“Show
that we care about people.” Mollie
“Kindness
week makes me a better person.” Travis
“We
do kindness week so people can respect us.” Nick
“Be
kind to be kind” Dana
“Kindness
week is about saying hi to someone or being nice to someone to make their day.”
Gabe
“It
brings me joy to have someone else have a smile on their face.” Jack
“Never
look down on anybody unless you are helping them up.” Jesse Jackson
“Karma”
Ethan
“Those who want to video record at the
polling place should be free to do so, as long as they don’t interfere with
voters’ activities or needlessly intimidate them,” Sen. Diamond said. “This
bill would set reasonable rules about what is and isn’t allowed.” 
The bill also earned the support of the
Maine Municipal Association, which represents election wardens, and wrote in
its testimony that “the polling place should be entirely free of activities
that cause voters to be embarrassed, feel uncomfortable or otherwise cause
voter distress.” 
By
Michelle Libby - The Windham Middle School student council under the direction
of Shelly Cook hosted a Kindness week this past week to correspond with
National Random Acts of Kindness Week. Each day teachers were asked to help
engage the students in something that would remind them of kindness. 