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Goal

The 2024-2025 school year is the fourth year that I have sponsored the 5th Grade Kindness Club at Emma Love Hardee Elementary School. We meet once a month to plan activities to promote and encourage kindness. It is wonderful to have the resources needed for this club without having to ask the parents for donations. The activities planned benefit not only our entire school but also our community. Each year I have had over fifty 5th grade students involved in the club. This last year I had 62 students join the club. 

What will be done with my students

The 5th Grade Kindness Club meets once a month to promote and spread kindness throughout the school. We coordinate with our school guidance counselor, Mary Hawkins, to support the monthly PBIS (Positive Behavior Intervention Support) school goals. Some of the activities from the last four years include writing thank you letters to former teachers or staff throughout the school, sending care packages to soldiers through the Adopt-a-Soldier Christmas Campaign, painting bowls for the Barnabus bowl auction, making cards for veterans, leading and walking in the annual Dickens Luminary parade, making Valentine cards for residents of the local nursing homes, planning and organizing the Kindness Month and week activities for all of Emma Love School, writing encouraging notes to younger students prior to state testing, painting rocks for our landscaping that show "Kindness Rocks", reading books to students in 3rd or 4th grade to promote inclusion and kindness and frequently "chalking the outside walks" to encourage students.  

Benefits to my students

In just the four years I have sponsored this club, I have noticed that intentional acts of kindness are occurring more frequently and creating a ripple effect. We begin the year with a "Thank You Thursday" meeting where we write thank you notes to former teachers and now other teachers have implemented "Thank You Thursdays" in their own classrooms. I love to share the story where the first year I watched a teacher come into school looking upset one morning. She got her mail and inside was a thank you note that a student wrote. It read "Thank you for being my third grade teacher and thank you for seeing the real me!" She read it to me with tears in her eyes and thanked me saying that was just what she needed. We always meet on Thursdays and begin every meeting by writing thank you notes. The students love seeing their notes posted throughout the school. Being able to encourage and promote kindness allows our students the opportunity to give back. Many parents have expressed to me that they wish the middle school had a Kindness Club as their children miss it. Others have told me that they have noticed a positive change in their child and now they are often looking for ways outside of school to spread kindness. The first year, a student's parent who makes shirts generously donated a shirt for each member and the second year two local businesses (Twisted Sisters and Olive Amelia) donated money for the shirts. The last two years the grant funded all of our shirts and the additional projects we complete during the year. If I am chosen to receive the grant again it would fund the shirts and items needed throughout the year to help our club continue to grow and be successful and spread even more kindness.  

Budget Narrative

The shirts are purchased locally from CoCoMo Embroidery, owner Brandi Perkins. The ornaments from Amazon are decorated for a local senior center. The glow sticks are from Amazon and are used to light the lanterns we make to carry in the Dickens Luminated Parade. We have been chosen to lead the parade the last three years which we feel is an honor and the students look forward to this! In the fall of 2024, we were also asked to walk in the parade honoring Poe Pinson. The markers, chalk, and paper will be used for our projects throughout the year.  

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