CHARACTER COUNTS! Kindness 101

Giving Back – Young Football Star Uses Fame to Help Foster Kids

There are many different ways to give back to your community. Some of the most impactful ways of giving back are often the simplest of them all.

Giving Back
Grade Level: K-12
 
Character Skills
  • Responsibility
  • Caring
SEL Skills
  • Self-Awareness
  • Self-Management
Academic Skills
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • Diligent Learner

Definitions

Responsibility
  • Do what you are supposed to do. Try your best.
  • Persevere. Keep on trying.
  • Be self-disciplined.
  • Think before you act. Consider the consequences.
  • Be accountable for your words, actions, and attitudes.
Caring
  • Be kind.
  • Be compassionate.
  • Express gratitude.
  • Forgive others.
  • Be considerate of others’ feelings.
Self-Awareness

Identify and understand emotions, values, attitudes, motivations, mindsets, and personal attributes.

Self-Management

Regulate emotions, attitudes, and actions and resist negative emotions and impulses.

Critical and Creative Thinking

Acquire, remember, understand, and apply knowledge.

Diligent Learner

Have a growth mindset and is willing to learn from mistakes. 

Learn more about our character, SEL, and academic outcomes.
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The Ray Center at Drake University
CBS News

Students will learn about giving back and how they can give back in their own communities.

Download Google Slides
activiate prior knowledge

Activate Prior Knowledge

  • What is a nice thing someone has done for you that made you feel respected or cared for?
  • What does it mean to give back?
    • Giving back means to repay a kindness with a good deed to someone else.
Kindness 101

Kindness 101 Video

discussion

Discussion Prompts

  • In the video, why did Malachi feel so bitter and selfish?
  • How did Malachi change his outlook and perspective on life?
  • How can we experience challenging life events and still cultivate kindness within ourselves?
  • Even on challenging days, how can an act of kindness benefit others and ourselves?
  • How are simple acts of kindness a way of giving back to your community?
materials

Materials

activity

Activity: Kindness Touchdown

This activity encourages reflection on the emotional impact of kindness and promotes a sense of accomplishment by positively contributing to others’ lives.

  • Explain that random acts of kindness are simple things that can make the people around us feel cared for and respected. Malachi did this by holding a door for someone else, and this led to a much larger effect over time.
  • Break students into small groups. Ask students to list ways to show kindness throughout the week at school, at home, and in the community.
  • Once the class has a large list, ask each student to choose their favorite act of kindness.
  • Then, ask the students to complete this act of kindness at least ten times over the next week.
  • Students will color or shade in 10 yards on the Kindness Football Field after performing their chosen act of kindness.
  • After each act of kindness, they will write how they felt on their Kindness Football Field yards.
  • At the end of the week, they will review their completed acts of kindness to see how many “Kindness Touchdowns” they achieved.
  • Follow-up question:
    • Looking back at your Kindness Football Field, what emotions did you feel while doing your act of kindness? How do you think the people receiving your acts of kindness felt?
journal prompts

Journal Prompts

K-5

  • How has someone shown kindness to you this week? How did it make you feel?
  • What is one way you plan to show kindness this week?

6-12

  • Describe a time when someone showed you a random act of kindness. How did it make you feel?
  • How would the world be different if we chose to show kindness instead of cruelty when we’re frustrated?
  • Why do some people vent their frustrations to others when they’re struggling? What motivates others to maintain a positive mindset in challenging situations?
family connection

Family Connection

Educators: Copy the Family Connection and email it to parents, or click here to download a PDF version to email or print.

Watch
Watch the video as a family: https://youtu.be/djs-mj-64fw

Discuss
Use these questions to start meaningful conversations about giving back.

  • How have you experienced kindness within our family or community recently? How did it impact you?
  • How can we encourage kindness within our family and extend it to others in need?

Activity

  • Choose an act of kindness to put into action this week. Complete the act of kindness as a family and discuss how it made you feel and the reactions of people who received the kind act.

More Kindness 101

CHARACTER COUNTS! Lessons and Activities

 

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Des Moines, IA 50311

515-271-1910

RayCenter@Drake.edu

Character Counts
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