Teacher Kits Deliver Positive Impact to Classrooms

Keon Ruiter has taught his elementary-aged students about kindness in the past. But when the On Our Sleeves Mental Wellness Teacher Kit arrived, it took his curriculum—and the thoughtfulness that grew from it—to a whole new level.

“Kindness week was approaching in our school and the box came at just the right time to amp up our kindness lessons,” recalled Ruiter, a 2^nd grade teacher at Sanchez Elementary School in Hartford, CT.

He received a teacher kit with kindness-themed activities, and he paired the kit with the online kindness challenge.

Not only do the kits encourage children to explore the concept of kindness; Ruiter said he has seen the children continue to be nice to one another and others because of the activities. In other words, the kits have a lasting effect on children and all those they impact.

Kindness Class

Ruiter used tools in the kit along with other resources online to bring the kindness curriculum to life. His favorite activity was Day 2 of the kindness challenge. It centered on how children can be kind to, and take care of, themselves. Some of the exercises in the challenge included asking kids to list things they like about themselves, making time to relax and breathe, doing something they enjoyed, and paying attention to their self-talk.

“We discussed this and created a poster that listed three things that we liked about ourselves. It was a great activity to promote self-esteem and self-worth,” he said.

Another lesson centered around creating kindness shields that came in the kit. Each student got a piece of paper with a shield printed on it. The children got to decorate their shields and write or draw ways to be caring. The idea behind it, Ruiter said, is that kindness is similar to a superhero’s shield…children can use kindness to protect themselves from things that hurt, or potentially hurt, them.

In addition to the box, resources on the website supported Ruiter as he implemented the activities, so he had reinforcements at the ready.

Ruiter plans to keep using materials in the kit to continue teaching on kindness. He’s also adapted some of the tools from the kit, and recommended resources (like GoNoodle videos), into a curriculum that he and other teachers can use—complete with slide presentations.

Contagious Kindness

Perhaps the most influential part of teaching kindness is watching students practice what they’ve learned.

“Because we put such a concerted emphasis on kindness due to the inspiration of the kit, I see students carrying over what they learned beyond the actual lessons and ‘kindness week’,” Ruiter said. For example, when the class discussed being kind to custodians by keeping the floors clean, the students sprang into action.

“I see kids cleaning up the floor unprompted almost daily now because of this,” Ruiter noted.

The class also discussed how to show kindness to cafeteria staff when the children receive their lunches each day. A simple “thank you” could do the trick, the class agreed.

“I hear my students doing this unprompted as well,” Ruiter added.

Paying It Forward

One of Ruiter’s favorite tools was the booklet in the August kit. The booklets are high quality so he can save them for future use.

At the start of the year, he always teaches a few units on expectations. “Now that I have the kit, I will be able to incorporate the classroom expectations into my lessons next year,” he added.

Ruiter is so engaged that he passed the tools onto other educators to impact their students as well.

“One colleague of mine even made increasing kindness and social interaction one of her year-end goals. I referred her to articles on the On Our Sleeves website to help her make her plan,” Ruiter said.

“I am very invested in this program,” he added. “I actually have recommended it to colleagues as the website has so much great information, scholarly articles, and activities.