A lesson in kindness
Courtesy photo Pinehurst Elementary School teacher Jaime Jerome’s third-grade class wearing their “Choose Kind” shirts. The shirts are part of the “Wonder” unit that the third-grade classes recently wrapped up.
Some of the projects involved in the “Wonder” unit involved drawing self-portraits and writing their own precepts.
PINEHURST — Mark Twain once said, “kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.”
Recently the third-grade teachers at Pinehurst Elementary School wrapped up a unit on kindness, using the book and movie “Wonder” as their inspiration.
“Wonder” is a children's novel by R.J. Palacio that follows a child with Treacher Collins syndrome and his family as they go through the trials of self-acceptance, fitting in, bullying and friendship.
The idea began after PES teacher Jaime Jerome had heard of the book and decided to get it as a book that she could read to her class.
“I had been wanting to get the book for a few years and finally decided to get it as a read-aloud for my class,” Jerome said. “From the very beginning of the year, I knew that my school year was going to be centered around the act of being kind and treating each other like family. ‘Wonder’ seemed like a good way to get my students interested in reading, sharing empathy and learning to be kind no matter what.”
From there, the unit expanded to all of the third-grade classes and became a highlight for the students as they became actively involved in the story.
“My students loved the idea of the message before even getting the book,” Jerome said. “I showed them all the movie trailer before the book arrived and we talked about the central idea of being kind to everyone no matter what. As soon as the book arrived in the mail and I started to open the package, the whole class cheered with excitement. Throughout the book, they all laughed at the humorous parts, cried at the sad parts and cheered during the exciting parts.”
Besides just reading the book and watching the movie, the students completed various assignments based off the unit, including one where they drew their own self-portraits of while writing down precepts for themselves, and a postcard to the fictional Mr. Browne, from the story.
Fellow third-grade teacher Torrie Stutzke hopes to see the unit potentially become something that the entire school gets involved in and not just the one grade level due to the level of positivity that it has yielded her class.
“I would love to do an activity yearly that promotes a safe environment not only in my class, but in our school,” Stutzke said. “Our goal is to make it school-wide so all children know how to be positive, to know it is ‘wonderful’ to be different and each one of them is unique. When children know that there won’t be any ridicule when answering questions, if they look or sound different, or if they aren’t as good as their peers at something, I believe they will be willing to step out of their comfort zone and try new things and work harder.”
At the end of the unit, Jerome hops that the kids continue to practice what they learned through “Wonder” because of how important the ability to show kindness is throughout life.
“Our kids in our community need to see the importance of being a kind individual,” Jerome said. “We will be spreading kindness throughout the school over the next few months.”