“Look and you will find  — what is unsought will go undetected.”
Sophacles

Among decorations adorning the door of Laci Hettinger’s counseling room at the Buchanan K-1 Center is a thank you card decorated with crayons that simply says, “Thank you for teaching me about feelings.”
It’s a physical reminder of the positive vibes flowing through the school during the second annual Great Kindness Challenge  Jan. 22-26.
Each classroom was given a large manilla envelope with six different “kindness challenges,” and teachers could choose which challenge they wanted to focus on each day.
The challenges included giving compliments, use your manners (say please and thank you, be polite, take turns), keep things picked up and recycle, help your friend, play with a new group or friend, and write thank you notes (to custodians, librarian, bus driver, food service workers).
Kindness Challenge traveling trophies were presented to each of the five kindergarten and five first-grade classrooms during the week. A bag affixed to the back of each trophy was filled with treats for the students.

“I got a lot of positive feedback from teachers on how the kids loved it, and they saw the good and positive things happening,” Hettinger said. “It was so much fun to watch the kids get excited for doing good.
“We were celebrating the positive things going on and recognizing them for that,” she added.
The Great Kindness Challenge is a positive bullying prevention initiative that improves school climate by flooding the campus with acts of kindness. At the heart of the challenge is the belief that kindness is strength, and that as an action is repeated, a habit is formed.
The Kindness Challenge program, which covers grades K-12, was founded through the Kids for Peace program in 2011 and piloted at three California schools.
Last year the Great Kindness Challenge was in 15,000 schools in 90 countries, and impacted 10.5 million students.
Kindergarten teacher Amy Schoenfelder said her students loved the daily kindness challenges.
“They were excited to help others and they were more aware of being kind,” Schoenfelder said.
“At the end of the week, one student said, ‘Well, Kindness Week is over,’ so then we went into how we need to be kind all the time. They learn how to be kind and treat others.”
Tori White, who teaches first grade, said it was nice to have all the different challenges to choose from each day.
“We had a strategy for every day instead of just saying, ‘Be kind,’” White said. “They could practice skills they need by working on one thing every day.”
White said it also introduced students to what a compliment is, and helped them notice those around them who help them.
“They had to learn how to give a compliment, and they were more conscious of what they said and more appreciative of what others around them do for them,” White added. “They take for granted that lunch is ready for them and the building is always clean. It helps them understand who does that for them.”
Principal Peggy Heinz said students are more aware of what positive behavior is and try to do that more often. The program was introduced through the school’s PBIS (Positive Behavior Intervention System).
“It’s a system that rewards positive behavior instead of pointing out bad,” Heinz said. “Kids are so proud they’ve done something right. If you can instill that when they’re little, hopefully, it will carry on through their whole life. A lot of great things have come out of it.”

CRYSTAL PUGSLEY/PLAINSMAN
Buchanan K-1 Center counselor Laci Hettinger, center, is flanked by kindergarten students, Laken VanZee and Mercy Htoo, on her left, and first-grade students Traesean Williams and Alicia Oestreich, on her right. They are posing with traveling trophies awarded to each of the classrooms during the Great Kindness Challenge held Jan. 22-26.