Welcome to Kindness is Kool, the official blog of the 2016 Connecticut's Kid Governor® Elena Tipton! Learn more about Elena's Campaign for Kindness, ways you can be kind to others, and how you can make a difference in your community by reading her regular blog posts and by visiting CT.KidGovernor.org.
Sunday, November 20, 2016
Friday, November 18, 2016
"Convivencia": the art of living together!
A message from your friends at the Connecticut Public Affairs Network...
Hello to all of our Kindness is Kool readers out there! Elena, along with all of YOU, have been working very hard during the past year to come up with some great ways to show kindness to your friends, classmates, family, and even people you’ve never met! Congratulations on demonstrating convivencia! (Say what?!)
If you’ve never heard the word convivencia before, it is: “the art of living together”. And you’ve been practicing the art of living together every time you act with kindness.
Most of the time we think of “art” as the drawings we create for fun in our free-time, or the paintings and sculptures we see in a museum. But if you look up the word “art” in the dictionary, this is what it says: “something that is created with imagination and skill and that is beautiful or that expresses important ideas or feelings”.
Isn’t that what “kindness” is, after all? If you’ve been helping Elena come up with ways to be kind, if you’ve recently treated someone kindly, you’ve used your imagination and skill to create something beautiful (good feelings). And you’ve expressed important ideas (respect, selflessness, compassion) through your kind actions. Maybe you’ve seen someone who looks sad -- and you thought about ways to cheer them up. Maybe you’ve seen someone having a bad day -- and you thought of a way to help them out. Maybe your kind action was the only good thing that happened to that person that day! And it showed them that someone noticed them and cared about them enough to make them feel important.
We can use our imaginations to create something beautiful and express important ideas every day. And the great thing about convivencia is that when you show others how it works, they learn that skill from you. You become a model for “the art of living together” and your acts of kindness get paid forward over and over again as more people start doing what they see you do!
Convivencia helps make it easier for us to get things done when we work in groups, whether it’s working on a class project, cleaning up after ourselves at home or playing a team sport. Doing our fair share of a class project shows that we care about the others in our group by pulling our own weight and not leaving all the work for everyone else to do. At home, it makes it a lot easier on the rest of our household if we clean up the kitchen once we’ve had our after-school snack or hang up our towel in the bathroom instead of leaving it on the floor for someone else to pick up. And team sports are called “team” sports because each player’s job is to help his or her teammates win the game, and often that means kindly sharing the ball to allow fellow players a chance to score!
"The art of living together” is such an important idea in learning that it is now used in some schools as a way to educate students throughout their school day. This way of learning, convivencia, started in Escuela Nueva in Columbia, South America. You can learn all about it in the NPR podcast HERE and below. But if you have been thinking of ways to be kind and are practicing kindness each and every day, you are already becoming skilled in the “art of living together” and are ready to show others how convivencia works!
Hello to all of our Kindness is Kool readers out there! Elena, along with all of YOU, have been working very hard during the past year to come up with some great ways to show kindness to your friends, classmates, family, and even people you’ve never met! Congratulations on demonstrating convivencia! (Say what?!)
If you’ve never heard the word convivencia before, it is: “the art of living together”. And you’ve been practicing the art of living together every time you act with kindness.
Most of the time we think of “art” as the drawings we create for fun in our free-time, or the paintings and sculptures we see in a museum. But if you look up the word “art” in the dictionary, this is what it says: “something that is created with imagination and skill and that is beautiful or that expresses important ideas or feelings”.
Isn’t that what “kindness” is, after all? If you’ve been helping Elena come up with ways to be kind, if you’ve recently treated someone kindly, you’ve used your imagination and skill to create something beautiful (good feelings). And you’ve expressed important ideas (respect, selflessness, compassion) through your kind actions. Maybe you’ve seen someone who looks sad -- and you thought about ways to cheer them up. Maybe you’ve seen someone having a bad day -- and you thought of a way to help them out. Maybe your kind action was the only good thing that happened to that person that day! And it showed them that someone noticed them and cared about them enough to make them feel important.
We can use our imaginations to create something beautiful and express important ideas every day. And the great thing about convivencia is that when you show others how it works, they learn that skill from you. You become a model for “the art of living together” and your acts of kindness get paid forward over and over again as more people start doing what they see you do!
Students in the Colombian Andes learning convivencia at school! (Steve Drummond/NPR)
Convivencia helps make it easier for us to get things done when we work in groups, whether it’s working on a class project, cleaning up after ourselves at home or playing a team sport. Doing our fair share of a class project shows that we care about the others in our group by pulling our own weight and not leaving all the work for everyone else to do. At home, it makes it a lot easier on the rest of our household if we clean up the kitchen once we’ve had our after-school snack or hang up our towel in the bathroom instead of leaving it on the floor for someone else to pick up. And team sports are called “team” sports because each player’s job is to help his or her teammates win the game, and often that means kindly sharing the ball to allow fellow players a chance to score!
"The art of living together” is such an important idea in learning that it is now used in some schools as a way to educate students throughout their school day. This way of learning, convivencia, started in Escuela Nueva in Columbia, South America. You can learn all about it in the NPR podcast HERE and below. But if you have been thinking of ways to be kind and are practicing kindness each and every day, you are already becoming skilled in the “art of living together” and are ready to show others how convivencia works!
Saturday, November 12, 2016
November Kindness Day and my last post as Connecticut's first Kid Governor!
Hi friends! This is my last blog post in my term as Connecticut's first Kid Governor, which ends in a few weeks when the next CKG is elected!! I am excited to say though that I will be continuing this blog and Kindness Day after the end of my term! Enter your email address at the top right of this page where it says "Follow Elena and her Campaign for Kindness" to make sure you receive updates from this blog!
This year as CKG I learned that it's important to be involved in government!! I learned that learning what is going on in your community is very important because children are the future and if we have no idea what's going on we will be in big trouble!!!
Most importantly, I hit all three of my campaign goals!!
Well that is it for my last post as CKG. Be sure to subscribe to this blog and continue to follow my campaign for kindness here and at CT.KidGovernor.org! Thanks for a great year and remember to be kind and always celebrate it!!
First, since November Kindness Day is just around the corner, I have ten kindness suggestions for November 13:
I have gotten to do so many amazing things this year as Connecticut's Kid Governor!! I had an amazing time and was able to meet so many diverse people. I got to go to opening session at the State Capital!! I went to several events in my town, East Hartford!! I went to several libraries through my Summer Library Circuit and got to meet so many amazing kids all across Connecticut!! I also went to the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony just last week where I got to speak and meet a whole bunch of amazing people!!- Celebrate the top seven candidates for this year's Connecticut's Kid Governor election
- If your friend is struggling with their work, give them a helping hand
- See if any of your teachers need help with their classroom
- Make ten cards with your friends and give them to one specific teacher!!
- If a friend forgot something help them get it done
- Give your parents a book of coupons like "one free chore" or "one nap"
- Go through your toys and give the ones you don't use to a child who needs them
- Bring a fun treat to your teachers
- Give your family a big hug and say "thank you for all you do"
- Celebrate your friends and your kindness!!
Me with Governor Malloy at the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame Induction last week!
This year as CKG I learned that it's important to be involved in government!! I learned that learning what is going on in your community is very important because children are the future and if we have no idea what's going on we will be in big trouble!!!
Most importantly, I hit all three of my campaign goals!!
- First, I got people all across the state of Connecticut to celebrate the 13th of the month as Kindness Day and hear all the remarkable acts of kindness they did!!
- Second, schools and organizations across Connecticut installed Buddy Benches on their playgrounds! We are now up to 15 Buddy Benches installed thanks to the East Hartford Rotary Club (they bought 11 Buddy Benches!!), Pleasant Valley Elementary School in South Windsor, Reynolds School in Newington, and most recently the McKinley Elementary School PTA in Fairfield! (photos below) Thanks to State Representative Cristin McCarthy Vahey who told McKinley Elementary School about my goal of installing Buddy Benches!
- And third, by creating an email address I got to hear what the amazing kids (and adults!) across Connecticut wanted to do to be kind!! I also met many kids when I went and spoke to them!
Photos of the new Buddy Bench at McKinley Elementary School, painted by 5th graders!
- Elena
Thursday, November 3, 2016
The Statewide Election for the 2016-2017 Connecticut's Kid Governor™ Begins Next Week!
A message from your friends at the Connecticut Public Affairs Network...
We are pleased to announce the following candidates for the 2016 Connecticut's Kid Governor™ Statewide Election! The candidates and their selected platforms are:
Avery: Homelessness
Chelsey: Kindness
Georgia: Bus Safety
Jessica: Animal Cruelty
Madelyn: Senior Pet Adoption
Nathan: Bullying Prevention
Nicolas: Recycling
Each candidate has completed a campaign video outlining why he/she wants to be Connecticut's Kid Governor, what leadership qualities he/she has, what community issue is important to him/her and why, and a three-point plan outlining ways for Connecticut 5th graders to make a difference around that issue.
The candidates' videos are now available HERE.
All 5th grade classes must pre-register in order to vote in the Connecticut's Kid Governor Statewide Election. Registration will close on Friday, November 4, 2016. For more information, please email Brian.Cofrancesco@kidgovernor.org.
Wednesday, November 2, 2016
Upcoming Kindness Days and Kindness Activities!
A message from your friends at the Connecticut Public Affairs Network...
We’re always on the lookout for more cool kindness ideas! Here are a few of the awesome projects that kids and communities are participating in right now, as well as a few kindness-related dates coming up soon. Take a look at some of the great ways to get involved!
In January 2017, a group associated with Kids for Peace is coordinating The Great Kindness Challenge-School Edition, where schools can sign up online and pledge to be kind for one whole week. Schools can download a challenge list to follow, or come up with their own kindness activities.
Finding ways to be kind is made even easier if you follow the suggestions at any of these websites, some of them for individuals, and some designed to be done in a group like a classroom setting.
RandomActsOfKindness.org teaches you how to be a RAKtavist (Random Act of Kindness doer) with activities like hiding fun-filled Easter eggs in a park for someone to find, or leaving a thank you post-it on a cafeteria tray for the person who has to wash them. There are also lesson plans here for teachers to use (free!), and even research showing how kindness actually makes our brains and bodies better. (Fun Fact: a Swedish study in 2013 found that human heart beats synchronize with each other when we sing together! Kindness activity? Start singing with your friends!)
KindSpring divides its kindness activities into categories like animals, the elderly, and teens, and lets you click a tab to say “I’ve done this.” They also have printable “smile cards” – allowing you to do an anonymous kind act and encourage the next person to pass on the kindness!
Former educator and human services professional Barb Shelly created a website called KidActivities, which features pages of kindness activities and craft ideas specifically for school-age kids and classrooms, including making a kindness paper chain, a wall of love craft, and how to hold a crayon drive for sick kids!
Kindness is important every day, but there are some special dates when people all over the world do something nice for some other person:
Every single kind thing we do for another person helps to make the world a better place. So go find your next kind act through one of these websites, start your own kindness campaign in your school or community, or just smile at the next stranger you see. No act of kindness is too small!
We’re always on the lookout for more cool kindness ideas! Here are a few of the awesome projects that kids and communities are participating in right now, as well as a few kindness-related dates coming up soon. Take a look at some of the great ways to get involved!
In January 2017, a group associated with Kids for Peace is coordinating The Great Kindness Challenge-School Edition, where schools can sign up online and pledge to be kind for one whole week. Schools can download a challenge list to follow, or come up with their own kindness activities.
Finding ways to be kind is made even easier if you follow the suggestions at any of these websites, some of them for individuals, and some designed to be done in a group like a classroom setting.
RandomActsOfKindness.org teaches you how to be a RAKtavist (Random Act of Kindness doer) with activities like hiding fun-filled Easter eggs in a park for someone to find, or leaving a thank you post-it on a cafeteria tray for the person who has to wash them. There are also lesson plans here for teachers to use (free!), and even research showing how kindness actually makes our brains and bodies better. (Fun Fact: a Swedish study in 2013 found that human heart beats synchronize with each other when we sing together! Kindness activity? Start singing with your friends!)
KindSpring divides its kindness activities into categories like animals, the elderly, and teens, and lets you click a tab to say “I’ve done this.” They also have printable “smile cards” – allowing you to do an anonymous kind act and encourage the next person to pass on the kindness!
Download your smile cards here! They're available in 16 languages.
Kindness is important every day, but there are some special dates when people all over the world do something nice for some other person:
- World Kindness Day is coming up on November 13
- Random Act of Kindness Day is February 17
- International Kindness day is July 27
Every single kind thing we do for another person helps to make the world a better place. So go find your next kind act through one of these websites, start your own kindness campaign in your school or community, or just smile at the next stranger you see. No act of kindness is too small!
Wednesday, October 26, 2016
Cities and Towns Celebrate Kindness
A message from your friends at the Connecticut Public Affairs Network...
Connecticut’s Kid Governor Elena has shared many great suggestions for kind acts that anyone can do on their own. But wouldn’t it be great if groups of people got together to explore the idea of kindness and see what they could do to make the world better?
That is the idea behind several different “Day of Kindness” gatherings that have taken place in the past year, all across the United States.
In October of 2015, the city of Philadelphia, PA (nicknamed the “City of Brotherly Love”) hosted the Philadelphia Day of Kindness, the first day of an entire month of kindness activities to celebrate the city’s 333rd birthday. The month of kindness included celebrations all across the city, with different kindness activities at each site. They included a musical celebration featuring Tibetan music in honor of the Dalai Lama, and Kindness in the Wind – a flag-making activity and art installation of flags made by people from all over saying and showing how we could be kind to one another.
In addition to these celebrations, the people of Philadelphia encouraged each other to be kind in a lot of different ways:
In April 2015, a group in Meridian, Idaho, hosted a “Do the Right” Day of Kindness. The idea? Do something nice for the person to the right of you. See how it works here:
A group in Louisville, KY, has hosted a “Mighty Kindness Hoot” for the past nine years. This past June it featured a whole day of music, classes on being kind to the earth and each other, a community circle to share kindness ideas, and hugs from their mascot “Hootin’ Annie”! Here she is:
Would any of these great kindness ideas work in your community? If so, talk to your parents and local elected officials! They can help you come up with a plan to bring these ideas to action in your town.
Connecticut’s Kid Governor Elena has shared many great suggestions for kind acts that anyone can do on their own. But wouldn’t it be great if groups of people got together to explore the idea of kindness and see what they could do to make the world better?
That is the idea behind several different “Day of Kindness” gatherings that have taken place in the past year, all across the United States.
In October of 2015, the city of Philadelphia, PA (nicknamed the “City of Brotherly Love”) hosted the Philadelphia Day of Kindness, the first day of an entire month of kindness activities to celebrate the city’s 333rd birthday. The month of kindness included celebrations all across the city, with different kindness activities at each site. They included a musical celebration featuring Tibetan music in honor of the Dalai Lama, and Kindness in the Wind – a flag-making activity and art installation of flags made by people from all over saying and showing how we could be kind to one another.
Kindness flags fly in Philadelphia! Photo credit: Paul Kurtz
In addition to these celebrations, the people of Philadelphia encouraged each other to be kind in a lot of different ways:
- They set up a Kindness Exchange, a webpage of different causes and organizations where people could donate their time, skills, or money.
- They also started an online Wall of Intention, a place where visitors could pledge to do something kind with a simple fill-in-the-blank like this:
- I intend to be kinder by ________________________
- Their website even included a place where people could share stories about acts of kindness they had seen or been a part of. Check out the event and activities on their website!
In April 2015, a group in Meridian, Idaho, hosted a “Do the Right” Day of Kindness. The idea? Do something nice for the person to the right of you. See how it works here:
Hootin' Annie at Louisville's Mighty Kindness Hoot
Would any of these great kindness ideas work in your community? If so, talk to your parents and local elected officials! They can help you come up with a plan to bring these ideas to action in your town.
Wednesday, October 19, 2016
"Sit With Us": Spreading Kindness at Lunch Time
A message from your friends at the Connecticut Public Affairs Network...
Hello everyone! We hope the new school year is off to a great start for all of our student, teacher, and parent followers!
One of the most exciting parts of a new year – especially if you’re at a new school – is making new friends. And lunch time is a great chance to talk to those friends – you might find out that you have lots of things in common! Do you have a favorite subject in school? Tell a new friend about why you think that subject is cool, and ask them if they have a favorite subject too. You can do the same thing with your favorite sports team, television show, or food! Sharing your interests with others and asking what interests them is a great way to make friends, and can be a great way to show kindness!
For some students, choosing which table to eat at can be stressful. It can be scary to ask to join somebody else’s table, especially if you don’t know anyone sitting there. Natalie Hampton, a student from Sherman Oaks, California, was nervous to join someone’s table for lunch at her new school. Instead, she decided to eat by herself every day. Natalie felt embarrassed and lonely sitting by herself, but she was afraid that the other students would be mean to her if she asked to join their table.
Natalie moved to a new school and quickly made new friends! But she didn’t want other students to have the same experience she did. She wanted to make sure that students at her new school weren’t embarrassed or nervous about asking to join someone’s table, and she didn’t want anyone to have to eat alone.
Natalie decided to create an app for phones to make it easier to find a place to eat. Her app, “Sit With Us,” lets students volunteer to be lunch ambassadors. These ambassadors can set up an “open lunch,” meaning that any student is welcome to sit at their table. Natalie says the best part about the app is that it’s private. Shy or nervous students don’t have to ask someone if they can join their table. All they have to do is check the app and join an ambassador’s table.
So how can you get involved? You can download the app and spread the word around your school. Or, you can keep an eye out for students who are sitting by themselves and ask if they want to join your table, even if you don’t have the app!
Natalie witnessed a problem at her school and wanted to do something to change it. With her app, Natalie is helping her fellow students. Are there any problems in your school? How can you fix them? Talk to your parents and your teachers – they can help you think of ways to make your school a friendlier, more welcoming place for everyone. That’s a great way to spread kindness!
And, if you’re a 5th grader, consider running for Connecticut’s Kid Governor using the problem you’ve identified as your campaign platform! Visit CT.KidGovernor.org for more information.
Hello everyone! We hope the new school year is off to a great start for all of our student, teacher, and parent followers!
One of the most exciting parts of a new year – especially if you’re at a new school – is making new friends. And lunch time is a great chance to talk to those friends – you might find out that you have lots of things in common! Do you have a favorite subject in school? Tell a new friend about why you think that subject is cool, and ask them if they have a favorite subject too. You can do the same thing with your favorite sports team, television show, or food! Sharing your interests with others and asking what interests them is a great way to make friends, and can be a great way to show kindness!
For some students, choosing which table to eat at can be stressful. It can be scary to ask to join somebody else’s table, especially if you don’t know anyone sitting there. Natalie Hampton, a student from Sherman Oaks, California, was nervous to join someone’s table for lunch at her new school. Instead, she decided to eat by herself every day. Natalie felt embarrassed and lonely sitting by herself, but she was afraid that the other students would be mean to her if she asked to join their table.
Natalie moved to a new school and quickly made new friends! But she didn’t want other students to have the same experience she did. She wanted to make sure that students at her new school weren’t embarrassed or nervous about asking to join someone’s table, and she didn’t want anyone to have to eat alone.
Natalie decided to create an app for phones to make it easier to find a place to eat. Her app, “Sit With Us,” lets students volunteer to be lunch ambassadors. These ambassadors can set up an “open lunch,” meaning that any student is welcome to sit at their table. Natalie says the best part about the app is that it’s private. Shy or nervous students don’t have to ask someone if they can join their table. All they have to do is check the app and join an ambassador’s table.
A screenshot for Natalie Hampton's Sit With Us app.
So how can you get involved? You can download the app and spread the word around your school. Or, you can keep an eye out for students who are sitting by themselves and ask if they want to join your table, even if you don’t have the app!
Natalie witnessed a problem at her school and wanted to do something to change it. With her app, Natalie is helping her fellow students. Are there any problems in your school? How can you fix them? Talk to your parents and your teachers – they can help you think of ways to make your school a friendlier, more welcoming place for everyone. That’s a great way to spread kindness!
And, if you’re a 5th grader, consider running for Connecticut’s Kid Governor using the problem you’ve identified as your campaign platform! Visit CT.KidGovernor.org for more information.
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