Classroom Community

Kindness Tree

Okay, let me put you on something...a Kindness Tree! The weeks between Thanksgiving Break and Winter Break are HIGH energy and can be some of the toughest weeks of the year behaviorally with all the excitement bubbling out of our littles. While I don't typically use lots of rewards to help kiddos stay on task and do their best, there are times they are needed (I believe there are better ways to help students achieve those - but that's for another time). 

A couple years ago, I had one of my toughest classes of my career and I really struggled with instilling kindness and empathy. I love the time from Thanksgiving through Christmas, this is one of my favorite times of year, but I knew it was going to be a struggle. Drum roll please...the Kindness Tree was born! I know many teachers have been using this idea for years but I found my golden ticket and have been so excited to use it with my students each of the years following. 

Keep reading! I promise it's worth it if this is a new idea to you! I'm going to share how I set it up, introduce it to my students, as well as where to get the items you need. Plus - I am including a freebie to bring it all together for you!

I set the tree up before the students come in but only the tree, the tree skirt, and the kindness tree topper. The ornaments are put in a cute basket for students to pick from as they earn them. As part of our morning meeting the first day back from break, I tell them all about the tree and how we get to decorate it. I tell them how excited I was setting it up and how they get to help me decorate it. Then I show them the basket of ornaments and tell them how they can earn an ornament - by showing an act of kindness. We talk about what it means to be kind and sometime make an anchor chart to help them remember. Over the next couple weeks our tree becomes beautifully decorated as the kiddos get to add ornaments to it.

Now for the fun stuff! Check out these items to set up your own Kindness Tree!