Our Kindness Garden...

Who knew you could plant a garden in Red Deer in the middle of January? Well, Mrs. Grainger's grade one class did just that today, but it's a different kind of garden. The first graders planted a kindness garden.

The idea to plant a kindness garden evolved after the kids were talking about 'No Name Calling Week' at Glendale School. We are joining thousands of others around the world to shed light on the issue of name calling by recognizing January 21-25 as No Name Calling Week. Mrs. Grainger's class was trying to think of a way to teach others kind words they could use instead of name calling. As they talked about what they wanted to do, they came up with the idea that everyone likes flower gardens, so why not create a garden that would teach others about kind words? They thought that people would see their garden and want to "stop to smell the flowers," and then they would see that the flowers weren't regular flowers. They would be good word flowers that not only looked and smelled nice, but sounded nice too!

So there it was... a brilliant idea to create a garden of 'good word flowers.' Today the garden caught my eye as I was walking down the hallway, so I stopped to take a look. When it's -25 below 0 outside, an indoor flower garden is a pretty nice place to be. When I got closer I saw a kind word for every student in the class, and each was growing along with the flower it was written on. I opened the door to ask the kids about their garden, and one girl said, "we made the flowers all different sizes so small and tall people could read the words." I thanked the kids for planting their garden, and then went to check out the tweets they had written earlier in the day about what they like to be called. Here's how that went...

In honor ofNo Name Calling Week, January 21-25th.Grade 1G is sharing their put ups and put downs with you.
— Grade 1G (@wonederingones) January 21, 2013

i want tot be ca led knice and a hard worker.I want to be called kind.I want to be called talented.I do not want to be called a jerk. Teni
— Grade 1G (@wonederingones) January 23, 2013

I Want To Be Calilng KindI want to be called happy.I Do Not want to be called M&M.Cheyanne
— Grade 1G (@wonederingones) January 23, 2013

I want to be calle a nice. I want to be callea ncebus.I want to becallae big.I wantto be callea kind. Ryder
— Grade 1G (@wonederingones) January 23, 2013

I want to be called smart.I want to be called kind. I want to be called nice. Kadan
— Grade 1G (@wonederingones) January 23, 2013

lwanttobecalled prettylwant tobecalled nice. jayde
— Grade 1G (@wonederingones) January 23, 2013

i want to be caIIed nic i want to be caIId kind. i want to be call beautiful.I do not want to be called mean
— Grade 1G (@wonederingones) January 22, 2013

I Want to be called Smrt I Want to be called hasome.I d do not want to be called buls. Malikie
— Grade 1G (@wonederingones) January 21, 2013

i want to be called nice i want to be a hard worker i do not want to be called a jerk.Ryland
— Grade 1G (@wonederingones) January 21, 2013

Iwant to be called TuygrisI want to be called Smart I wanrt to havaBoY Frend Iwant to hav a PaTotI de wan to de calld Bubls
— Grade 1G (@wonederingones) January 21, 2013

i want tobecalled race car drivre, smrtr, hansy &happy.I donot wont to becalled poophead
— Grade 1G (@wonederingones) January 21, 2013

i want to be called smart and strong i want to be called kind i want to be called hard worker i do not want to be called stupid riley p
— Grade 1G (@wonederingones) January 21, 2013

Awesome.

Talking to the kids about their garden of kind words, and reading their tweets made my day today. We have to keep these conversations going. We have lots to learn from these kids.