Mrs. Jenny Rodriguez’s 5th grade class set a goal on the very first week of school to become the kindest students they could be this year and it has already paid off.
Challenged by their teacher as a part of the Certified Kind Classroom Challenge, the students created a kindness jar and filled it with marbles for each act of kindness they displayed every day. The students’ goal of being one of the first 500 classrooms across the U.S. to fill their jar was achieved this week and acknowledged by the publisher of R.J. Palacio’s book Wonder which the students will be studying this school year.
The students figured out on their own that if each of them did at least one kind act a day, their jar would be filled quickly and qualify them to enter the contest. In addition to receiving a banner for the school, the class is also eligible to win a personalized video message from the author of Wonder himself.
Their proud teacher said, “They all tried really hard to look for something truly kind to earn a marble; not like just picking up a pen for someone; something truly helpful to others.” The kids beamed with excitement as they celebrated their honor by wearing their classroom’s own kindness shirts that will bond them for the year.
Class member Jamie Graham designed the shirt as a part of a contest in which the students voted for the best design. Her shirt said, “Be YOUnique. Be HOO you are,” and featured an owl design.
This year the students will spend more time diving into the New York Time’s bestselling novel Wonder , which includes main character August Pullman who is a ten-year-old boy with jarring facial anomalies. Homeschooled all his life, August heads to public school for fifth grade and is not the only one changed by the experience. The Kindness Challenge is just another way for the students to experience the spirit of this book and promote and celebrate acts of kindness among their peers throughout the year. If the start of this school year is any indication of how the rest of the year will go, Mrs. Rodriguez’s fifth grade class is a place all students will want to be!
