December Random Acts of Kindness-Avent Calendar

I cannot believe we are 21 days until Christmas! Time is flying, and I am sure like many of you, I have tons (I mean, TONS!) of things to do before I go away visit my husband’s family in Memphis, Tennessee.

I am currently in the middle of my empathy unit with my 8th graders; my mini-unit before we begin reading, To Kill a Mockingbird.  One of my dear colleagues shared with me an advent calendar of the 24 Days of Kindness.  I thought to myself, what a great addition to my empathy unit! Because I am so ambitious, I turned it up a notch and created, “The Advent Kindness Challenge”.  Below is the calendar:

I actually gave out the calendar yesterday, so we were behind a few days (opps!).  Here are my rules for the challenge:

*For every challenge that they complete and can show evidence of (a picture, video, etc.), they get points for their group (I do a quarterly challenge with my students. They sit in groups, and groups gain points throughout the quarter. The group that has the most points at the end of the quarter wins ice cream on me!). In addition, they get a tally in my book. The student who has the most tallies by the end of the month gets a gift from me.

*Any of the verbal acts of kindness (1, 7, 14) they can fulfill, but they do not count as a tally or group points.  This kids know that I want them to challenge themselves.

*The students can double up, complete as many, and repeat any of the acts of kindness, including over our Christmas break.  If there is something that is not on the calendar (like donating to a charity), they can add it to the list. In addition, I tell them that they can go in any order that they like.

I use the Remind App, and by the afternoon yesterday, I already had three pictures sent to me, with three of my 8th graders showing that they were participating in acts of kindness. Check out the pictures!