You've Been R.A.K.ed #9, 10, & 11!

Sorry that I haven't been keeping up with the blog.  We have had several busy weeks in third grade!  State testing is swiftly approaching and we have been working so hard to get ready.  One thing that we've done is take a few reading tests.  My students take these tests each quarter.  This time we graphed our growth between 2nd and 3rd quarters.  Then, we brainstormed "rewards" for meeting different benchmarks of growth.  This is quite a proud moment for me.  For two of the benchmarks, my students wanted extra R.A.K time! Check out the awesome growth!!

 

R.A.K. #9

Parent Teacher Conferences were held recently and my kiddos decided it was time that we prepared a RAK for our favorite people!  Students prepared S'More kits for both of their parents.  They even included a sweet note thanking them for coming and being so awesome!

R.A.K. #10

Students decided that we needed to share how awesome we thought our school support staff is. They do so much to help teachers and students be the best they can be.  We are very blessed!!

R.A.K. #11

At our school, we have three ladies who work very hard to help support reading growth.  Several of my students work with them daily in tutoring.  Their classrooms are in the modular, and with it being winter, running in and out of the school is very cold!  To show them how much we appreciate them, we made them homemade hot cocoa mix and cookies to warm them up!

 Be on the lookout for more R.A.Ks!!!  We're loving it!

Happy Valentine's Day and RAK #8

My students so love RAKing that they decided to spend part of their party on Valentine's Day creating a delivering a Random Act of Kindness to the teachers in our school!  I was incredibly proud of them.  It truly is an honor to be their teacher.

Students worked on creating a heart wreath.  We then added a note that said, "Just like a wreath, our love and respect for you will never end.  Happy Valentine's Day!  Love, Miss Mason's third graders."  These were completed on Wednesday and then were delivered on Thursday during our party.  The joy on teachers' faces was priceless.  My students were so excited to have the chance to share some love.  They said that we needed to remember teachers on this day because they work so hard to make the parties fun and exciting.  They deserve a reward too!  I hope that my colleagues were as excited to receive them, as we were to give our wreaths.

Delivering our special wreaths.  I loved watching the interactions between my kids and the staff.  Even my shy students were so excited to share!

The proud R.A.K.ers!!!  Happy Valentine's Day!!

You've Been R.A.K.ed #7

I've fallen behind on posting about my class' progress on our Random Acts of Kindness.  A few weeks ago, students worked on and carried out our 7th R.A.K!  Only 19 more to go!!

My students decided to work on an act for the other third grade class in our building.  They made signs that said "We think you're EXTRA special!"  Each of those students were also given a piece of gum.  It was such a hit, that my class was R.A.K.ed back!!

This is such a fun project and I have enjoyed getting to do with my students.  They work to earn our RAK time each and it is something that they take extreme pride in doing.  If you have suggestions of any other Random Acts that we could do here at school, we'd love to hear them!

You've Been R.A.K.ed!!! #6

Our Random Act of Kindness required us to work together. We decided to "RAK" our night time janitor by cleaning our own classroom so that he could take a few minutes off. This worked well for me too because our classroom ended up being quite clean. Because there were so many of us working together, we were able to really deep clean our room...which was awesome!!!

The nice welcome poster!  Check out how clean our room is!!

Of course, we had to take time to Rock Out!  R.A.K.ing people is too much fun not to!

Our technology cart even got a deep clean!

I loved the team work that I witnessed during this project. 

I hope that our project has touched lives.  We'd love to hear more ideas, as we're only at 6 of 26 :)  Make it point to make someone's day better today!!

I've Been R.A.K.ed!!!

As I was sitting in my classroom during my plan time today, my sweet third graders came in with the biggest grins on their faces.  Of course, I was curious about their demeanor.  Something had to be up!  My hunch was right...those cute little third graders had cooked up a R.A.K. with the help of wonderful coworker.  I was so proud of them for being proactive and taking such ownership with this project.  Then I found out that this R.A.K "victim" was me!! 

They presented me with a framed wordle.  Each of my students had thought of a word to describe me.  Mrs. Lang then took these words and created a wordle that she framed for me!  I can't wait to hang this up where I can see it everyday.  She had one more little surprise for me too!  She blessed me with a new journal.  Not just any journal though! It was filled with encouraging notes, quotes, and scripture.  I definitely got a little teary eyed today.

I can now tell you from personal experience that small Random Acts of Kindness make a HUGE impact on people's lives!  The smile on my face is not disappearing anytime soon :)  Right now, I guess my kids have successfully completed 5 Random Acts of Kindness...and they didn't even need my help!

You've Been R.A.K.ed Part 4!

My students thought that since we were ready for our fourth R.A.K., that we should perform it on the fourth graders.  My students are certainly taking ownership and so much pride in this project already!

Each of my kids was given a card that read:

 To a sweet fourth grader

You've Been R.A.K.ed!

Have a happy Friday

 

We then attached a piece of candy to each note.  While fourth graders were at specials, my students visited the two classrooms to leave their special surprise.  Just like when we delivered to the fifth graders, my students acted as if they were on a top secret mission!

 

 



Off to deliver the special surprise!!

Mission Accomplished!!!

Third graders are making an impact for good...what are you up to make a difference in the lives of those around you?

You've Been R.A.K.ed! #3

Our third random act of kindness took two days to complete. My students decided that they wanted to help with lunch in the cafeteria. I split my class into two groups. One group helped each day. This meant only 10 kids helped each day, rather than 20 third graders running around the lunch room looking for ways to help. 

My students got a big kick out this R.A.K. because they were able to help brighten the day of so many.  I don't know whose smiles were bigger, my kids or those we were trying to help! 

We first had to learn the ropes from the janitor.  He explained what we could do to help him out.  One way was helping with trash and emptying trays.  My students spent time walking around while friends were eating to see if there was any way they could help.





Who knew that helping with the trash could be so much fun!  I was proud of how much work and effort my kids put in to helping! I love the grins from some of my boys in this picture.


 

One of the lunch room paras showed them how to use the rags to clean the tables after each grade left the cafeteria to go to recess.

We then got busy after each grade left.  Again, check out the smiles of these boys as they are working to serve those they respect so much!

While "on break" from cleaning tables and picking up trash, students walked around helping friends open anything they needed opened.  They even had the chance to see and visit with their siblings, which is what's happening in the above picture.  How cute is that?

Each child was also greeted by the third grade cheering section with a high five and a "Welcome to lunch! We're so glad that you're here!"

Anyone have any fun stories to share about your Random Acts of Kindness that you've carried out recently?  We'd love to hear about them!