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Grades level iconsGrades 1–3
Genre information iconInformational, Narrative, Persuasive
Resource type iconSparks

Kindness Counts

Nicolien Buholzer
Presented by: Cartoon Network
Why does kindness count? Students consider acts of kindness that they’ve experienced and reflect on the difference that kindness makes in the world.
What Your Students Will Learn

Students will collectively reflect on the power of kindness through a series of free-writes.

What You Will Do

This Spark comes from a lesson developed as part of the Inclusion Storytelling Project, a collaboration between 826LA, 826 National and Cartoon Network’s award-winning “Stop Bullying: Speak Up” campaign. The Spark is centered on writing as a vehicle for Social-Emotional Learning and is designed to encourage youth to share their individual stories about kindness and empathy in an effort to stop bullying before it starts.

To begin, pass out Post-It notes or index cards to students (3 per student). Tell students that they have 2 minutes to independently write a note about kindness. This could be an example of kindness, what kindness means to them, or how kindness makes them feel. They should write one note on one post-it, saving the other two.

As students finish, ask them to hang the notes on the front wall, collecting all anecdotes about kindness together in one visual location. Explain to...

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