Spread Kindess and Love Wherever Life Takes You

Has anyone ever made you feel small or that you were worthless? Have you ever at some point in your life, whether it have been in grade school or your current life, been picked on, bullied, teased, or left out? Have you ever felt like you were unpopular or not important?

We want to tell you that YOU are all special in every single way. Everyone of us is. Each of us has a light and it shines brightly to others around us. No one is more important than anyone else. We are all born into this life and we all eventually leave it. It is just up to us to choose what we do with the time given to us.

Kindness is a virtue. Kindness is showing love and compassion to someone with not being asked or expecting anything in return. We should strive to be kind to everyone we meet. Our words can be a lethal weapon or a healing miracle. We believe people hurting people is the worst, most powerful form of destruction in existence.

We recently read the book called The Berenstain Bears and the Golden Rule by Stan and Jan Berenstain.

What is the golden rule?

The Berenstain Bears are a family of 5 bears. This family includes: Mama Bear, Papa Bear, Brother Bear (the oldest child), Sister Bear (the middle child),and Honey Bear (the baby). The Berenstain Bears is a very popular children's book series that has been around for over 50 years. These books always have an important life lesson to teach.

This particular book tells about how Sister gets a golden locket for her birthday. It is shaped like a heart and on the inside it says, “Do to others what you would have them do to you.” Sister did not quite understand what this meant at first. Her mother explained that this was the golden rule and it was one of the most important rules there is. Mama tells her that “It is called the golden rule, because it is precious, just like gold. But it's not about the gold you wear around your neck or on your finger. It is about the golden treasure we keep inside our own hearts.” Sister still did not really understand what her mother was telling her yet. The next day a new girl comes to Sister's school. How do Sister and her friends act towards this newcomer? Does she eventually learn the meaning of “The Golden Rule”? Read this book to find out!

One good strategy to use for helping students make connections is role playing.

Role playing is when students act out a situation.  This situation can be from a book, a movie, or real life. To help students make connections with the book they are reading, we will have them act the situation out in a fun role playing activity.

We will read the book to the students first.  The students need to pay close attention to the characters and think about how the characters are feeling as you read the book. The students will then do the activity below.

We will have the students first act out the scene where Suzy MacGrizzie was on the playground and no one would play with her.  We will ask the students what you think she was feeling when this happened. If the students do not remember what happened during this scene, the students will then go back and use the book for reference. 

Then the students will think back to a time when they were left out when their classmates are playing.  We will then ask them to ponder the following questions:

1.       Do you think you and Suzy MacGrizzie felt the same way?  And why?

2.       Is there another time in your life that you felt that way?

The students will then role play about that time in their life that they were left out of something.  The students will have to tell us why this time was like the book.  

We will then ask the students about the the golden rule and what they think it means and how they can connect it to their own lives.

Jennifer: I personally feel a deep connection with this book. It hits home in more ways than one. When I was in elementary school, I was bullied, teased, picked on, and left out of a lot of things. True friends for me were rare. It seemed like knowing the golden rule didn't mean much to the kids in my school. That is why when I have my own classroom, the golden rule will be the most important rule. I do not want any child to have to go through what I did. EVER.

We believe that this book would be a great book to show and read to children. Since bullying has become a big thing in schools today, we need to expose children to great morals at a young age. The golden rule is a great thing for children to understand that they need to be kind and nice to others.

Kindness should be an international concept. Please watch this inspirational video. Do you make sure you show kindness on a daily basis?

DON'T FORGET!