Our FFA chapter often incorporated national days into its POA.
This was an easy way for our officers to begin to brainstorm new ideas without reinventing the wheel.
One of these national days occurring in February is National Random Acts of Kindness Week during the week of February 17th.
During this week, our officers encouraged students to put kindness first in the following ways:
RAK BULLETIN BOARD
Since our school was K-12, it offered a lot of opportunities to incorporate the elementary school. Our officers created a bulletin board containing RAK Action Items. Elementary students were encouraged by their teachers to take an action item when they left the cafeteria after lunch and complete it before returning the next day. Our officers also posted the RAK Bulletin Board Directions to encourage other students to complete the action items.
VALENTINE’S DAY
On Valentine’s Day senior FFA members traveled to elementary classrooms and provided each female elementary student with a carnation flower with Girls’ Valentine’s Day Cards attached. The officers attached candy to the Boys’ Valentine’s Day Cards (You’re a Star=Starburst, You Rock=Pop Rocks, You Are 1 in 100 Grand=100 Grand Bars, You’re Out of this World=Milkyways). Both were designed to promote self-esteem among elementary students. A local floral shop donated the flowers but you could also limit this portion of the activity to one grade.
KINDNESS CATCHERS
Committee members delivered paper hearts to elementary teachers and instructed them to record the name of students completing random acts of kindness within their classroom, and post them outside their door. This form of positive reinforcement promoted positive engagement within the activity by students.
STICK WITH KINDNESS
Committee members recorded kindness affirmations on sticky notes and placed them on elementary students’ lockers while they were at lunch.
These were just four ways our FFA members promoted kindness during this activity but there are countless ideas from the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation.
Our officers included this activity in the Personal Growth quality standard within its National Chapter Award and had great success with it at the state and national level. I hope you can find similar success with this easy to implement activity.
Reach out at info@owlsnestresources.com with any questions on how to implement this activity at your own school.