From February 11th to 24th, 2021, Bridge students, staff and families participated in a School-wide focus on “Lifting Each Other Up Through Kindness". We kicked off our Kindness focus with "Red and White Friendship" day on February 11th as a way to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year and Valentine's Day. This school-wide initiative lasted on ways to be kind to one another included lessons, events and activities designed to make a difference in the lives of others within our learning community. Our focus culminated on Pink Day on February 24th, On this special day, we acknowledged, reflected upon and celebrated our learning about how to be kind, and the impact that being kind to one another had had upon us here at Bridge. On the 24th, we hosted a Pink Day Zoom Assembly in which each class presented their journey of learning about kindness. 

SCHOOL-WIDE FOCUS ON “LIFTING EACH OTHER UP THROUGH KINDNESS"

In early February, interested staff joined a Kindness Committee to discuss ways to lift each other's spirits - as we recognized all of us were feeling the impact of the Global Pandemic and that we needed the support of one another - perhaps more than ever. We brainstormed ways to promote, encourage, foster and teach kindness, to develop social responsibility and empathy within our students, and try to raise everyone's spirits in the context within which we were living. 

The following is a summary of the school- wide plans created by our Committee and actions of our students, staff and families over these seven amazing days of learning:

February 11^th – 24^th, 2021

Thursday February 11^th

• Red Day – celebrating Valentine’s Day and Chinese New Year
  • 9:00 – 9:30 am Zoombly (Assembly over Zoom) to kick off our focus on kindness
    • This assembly is for in-person learners 
    • Our School Counsellor, Ms. Floris to read a story about Kindness
    • Mr. Hurst explained the Valentine’s Friendship Flower activity for classes to do at some point during the day:

Friendship Flowers Activity

• All classroom teachers will received an envelope with the following materials:
  • Pre-cut flower pieces for each student in the class:
    • 1 x Stem and leaves
    • 1 x Flower Center – with name on it
    • 5 x Petals
    • 1 x Green background 
• Each student will receive a flower with 5 compliments or positive comments from their classmates.
  • Option - Student could put positive comment about themselves under their names on the center

Tuesday February 16^th  to Wednesday February 24^th: 

• We promoted, taught, acknowledged and tracked or logged our students "Acts of Kindness" each day
• Over the next 7 days of school, staff focus on teaching and/or brainstorming ways our students can be kind to one another.

• Our Teacher Librarian, Ms. Sugiarto, set aside books with a focus upon or theme of Kindness, Frienship, or Empathy for staff and students
• Ms. Floris provided resources for educators on how to teach and promote kindness
• Our Kindness Committee provided classroom teachers with a variety of templates or ideas to log or track acts of “Lifting Each Other Up Through Acts of Kindness” 
• TL learners can log their acts of kindness at home and in community

Wednesday February 24^th  - Pink Shirt Day

• 9:00 – 9:30 am Zoombly (Assembly over Zoom) celebrating the many  acts of kindness our students had demonstrated during our Kindness Focus days at Bridge
• Classed shared the acts of kindness their students demonstrated, some of the learning activities in which they participated, and how this focus impacted their lives
• Mr. Hurst and Mr. West created and shared a slideshow / video showcasing of kindness learning activities and / or actions

LINKS TO OUR SCHOOL FOCUS ON THE CORE COMPETENCY OF COMMUNICATION:

Being kind to others certainly ties into an important aspect of Communicating: Connecting and Engaging With Others.

We wanted to hear how this focus on lifting each other up through kindness had impacted them and also wanted to use this as an opportuinity to improve our students’ abilities to effectively and descriptively communicate their thinking and learning.

With this in mind, three to five students in each division met with Mr. Hurst and reflect on their learning about kindness. 

(Please see our Evidence Blog for more information on our student responses).

LINKS TO THE CORE COMPETENCIES OF:

1) POSITIVE PERSONAL AND CULTURAL IDENTITY

2) SOCIAL AWARENESS AND RESPONSIBILITY 

Learning to be kind to one another not only makes Bridge a better place for all of us to call home. It is an important part of the K to 12 Provincial Curriculum, with strong ties to the Core Competencies that are listed above.

In the Image Gallery below, you will see examples of a lesson plans on being kind at different grade levels - K,  Grades 1 to 3 and Grades 4 to 7. These images highlight the Core Competencies targeted in these lessons, and they are just one example of the many learning experiences provided for our students during our Kindness focus.

In the Image Gallery, you will also see some examples of our Friendship / Kindness Gardens on display throughout the school. Each Bulldog student helped to create a Positive Comment Kindness Flower for 5 of their classmates - and each received their own flowers with 5 kind or positive comments from their peers.