Kindness has always been an important part of the culture at Johnson City’s Woodland Elementary School. During the 2020-21 school year, though, Woodland faculty and students tried to emphasize a caring attitude more than usual.
“Our Kindness Matters campaign has been a tremendous success,” Woodland Principal Karen Reach said. She added that the school’s Student Council members, under the tutelage of Kristi Presley and Mary Archer, “created and navigated such a beautiful process and student-centered campaign.”
The extra focus on kindness included all pre-k-4 students committing to a Kindness Pledge.
Students also created a kindness quilt and reminded their classmates to be kind to one another during the daily announcements. In order to get a space on the kindness quilt, students selected from 30 actions that ranged from at-home activities to in-school opportunities to brighten someone’s day.
A few of the suggestions included hugging a family member, writing a letter to someone to let them know you care about them, holding the door open for someone, and various other activities that provided someone with a sliver of kindness.
