Mendon Center Elementary Pittsford, NY ROCKS!
Here is some information about our kindness rocks project assembly at Mendon Center Elementary in Pittsford, NY today. Our kindness revolution began when myself and a co-teacher brought the idea up to our 4th grade classes as a community service project we could work on together. We wanted to help the kids see that spreading kindness does not have to be a grand gesture, rather something as small as a smile, a hug, or holding the door for someone without wanting something in return. The kids were very excited to take on the project and immediately began collecting rocks and sketching ideas. One student single handedly brought in, in his wagon, over 50 large rocks for our class from his grandmothers yard. The kids were excited to get started with the actual rocks. Before we got too much further into this project I figured it was about time to check with my principal to let her know what we were doing. She loved the idea so much that she asked if we could make it a school wide project. Before I knew it, our entire school of over 700 students and staff were painting rocks. The project took off in such unexpected ways. Both kids and staff were creating rocks outside of school and in our spare time because it was so therapeutic. Our 4th and 5th graders helped the K-1st graders paint the words on their rocks. Even our amazing PTSA joined in the cause by donating $500 in paint and paint markers to our cause. We even had families heading to beaches on The Weekend to collect rocks for kids who didn't have any. One family collected over 600 rocks for our schools use. Today was the culmination of the project for the school. We had an all school assembly where all the kids brought their rocks to the auditorium and we enjoyed a slide show showcasing all the kids hard work. At the assembly the kids were given instructions about what to do with the rocks. The media came and did a short clip on the project on the 6:00 news. I have already posted the news reel to the kindness rocks page. This has been such an amazing project for all the kids. Although the school may be done with the project, the original classes have plans to start kindness rocks gardens throughout our community. They have already started brainstorming places to create a garden, like our local Ronald McDonald House, the hospital, a local nature trail. The kids are still excited about creating more rocks. Our plan in to hunker down this winter and create some great rocks and then use the rocks in the spring to create more gardens. Thank you for starting such a simple, yet powerful movement that has brought so much joy to others and has helped teach our students that the smallest ack of kindness can cause a ripple.
Sincerely,
Kim Hosbach
4th grade teacher @ Mendon Center Elementary Pittsford, NY