When given the choice between

being right or being kind, choose

kind.
Kindness
Month

Friendly February
Part 1
 Respect: Lesson 1

For our first unit, we are talking about respect. Over the next week, we’ll
do some activities that help us understand this term and all the ways that
we
can respect ourselves, others, and the larger community around us, as
well as
how we experience respect in our culture.

To start, let’s “popcorn” a definition of respect. What words remind you of

the
concept of respect? Say them out loud and I will write down what I hear.

Based on what we’ve shared, we could define respect as:

The RAK definition of Respect is this: Treating people, places, and things
with kindness. Pretty easy, right? It should be, but sometimes it can be
hard to show respect to ourselves and others. We will explore that
 Inspire

We are going to start this week by talking about self-

respect, which is how we show kindness to ourselves. Why
do you think it’s important to be kind to yourself?

If we can’t be kind to ourselves, we can’t be truly kind to others.

 Empower

To kick off our respect unit, we are going to create a self-respect

puzzle. The
goal is to realize that we are all unique individuals, yet we all fit
together as
one. If one of us is missing, then our puzzle isn’t complete. It is
important to
remember that we all matter and to respect our own unique
contributions to this entire group.

Each one of you will get a puzzle piece. Put your name in large letters
on it
and then write at least five things around your name that make you
special
and unique. Think of things that you like, that you do, that you believe,
 Reflect

Use this time to put the puzzle together if

necessary. Have each student place
his or her piece and work together as a group
to create the full puzzle. With
time remaining, read some of the personal
attributes of the students, making
connections between similar attributes and
celebrating each student.
 Respect: Lesson 2

Yesterday we talked about ways to show respect for ourselves. Today

we
are going to talk about how we can show respect for others and why
this is
going to be a very important part of our class this year. The reason
why it is
going to be important is because having an environment where
everyone
feels equally respected creates an environment that is happier, that is
free
from negative stress, and that helps us learn and interact better.

How many of you would love to be in a place where people were

happy, not stressed out, and learning and having fun? I want to be in
 The Cerebral Cortex is known as the thinking brain . This
is the part of our brains that help us make good choices; it
helps us reason and rationalize.

This is what makes us human. We can actually

understand what is going on around us and make
decisions and determinations about our situation.

The Limbic System is known as the emotional brain . This is the

“fight, flight,
or freeze” part of the brain. This is the part of the brain that reacts to
stimuli
vs. responds in a logical, rational way. The emotional brain is what
triggers
when we are scared, anxious, angry, or excited. The emotional brain is
often
in charge when we are faced with having to do something new or
unfamiliar
- or if we feel like someone is mad at us or not including us - or if we
 Inspire

So, what does our brain’s functionality have to do with respect? Well, let’s talk about that. A
researcher named Paul Meshanko has studied the brain and how it contributes to our need
for respect (from ourselves and from others) and how we feel when we show respect to
others.

Meshanko says that when we are shown disrespect (maybe someone ignores you or doesn’t
include you or is flat out rude to you), our thinking brain shuts down and our emotional brain fires
up. We instantly feel angry, sad, defensive, or vengeful (as in, we want to get back at the person
who is being disrespectful). When this happens, our bodies release a hormone called cortisol that
keeps us in this state of heightened anxiety and awareness. What else do you think happens to our
physical bodies (not just our brains) because of this extra cortisol in our systems? What happens to
your body when you feel anxious or upset?

And, Meshanko says it can take the body up to four hours to get rid of all that extra cortisol! So,
when we feel disrespected, we are mentally and emotionally and physically at our worst for a long
time! Who wants to feel like that?! Or, who wants to make someone else feel that way? Not me!
 Empower

There are ways we can train our thinking brain to respond first (before our
emotional brain), but today, we are going to talk more about how we can set
up our classroom environment so that it is one of mutual respect so we
aren’t ever putting each other in this state of anxiety and discomfort.
Meshanko says when people are in respectful environments, they are more
productive, happier, better at working in teams, and more creative! This is
called the Respect Effect. Now that is the type of classroom I want to be in!

So, we are going to take just a few minutes to brainstorm our Top 10 ways
that we will show respect to others to increase the respect effect in this
classroom. These can be really simple. In fact, I’ll start: 1. We listen to
everyone.
 Reflect

Review the Top 10 and have the class read them out
loud together. Transfer the list to a piece of poster
paper and display in a prominent place in the room. If
there’s time and you have students who are artistic or
need something to do, have those students create
the poster.
 Respect: Lesson 3

So far in our Respect Unit we have talked about what it means to respect
ourselves and what it means to respect others, specifically our peers.

This week we are going to look at the rules we have here at school and the
rules we have at home for respecting other people in those environments
and for respecting the environments themselves; the things, the property,
the stuff.

Did you know that it is important to respect stuff too? It is! You likely signed
something (or your parents signed something) that says they read and
agree to follow the Academy St-Clement school agenda.

Open your agendas please. Does this look familiar to anyone?

 Inspire

The rules and policies in this document are very important for how we run our
school. We ask each family to read and sign this document at the start of the
school year to help us know that everyone understands the behavior we
expect at school and the consequences that follow poor behavior. It is like
signing a contract with the school that you will respect its rules and follow
them. Does anyone remember reading this document with their parents? (It is
likely that only a few hands will go up.)

Today we are going to look at some of the parts of this important contract that
tell us how to respect others at school and how to respect school property.
This is always a good reminder at the beginning of the school year. Plus, you or
your parents signed something saying you understand the rules and will abide
by them, so it is important you know what these rules are!
 Empower

Pair/Copies: To make this more interesting, we are going to go on a Respect

Scavenger Hunt in our school agenda. I am going to give each pair a copy
of a section in the handbook and some highlighters.

Together I want you to look for and highlight words that express rules
regarding respect. The word “respect” may not actually be used, but what
words are used that tell you that you need to respect someone or something
(including school property).

Then I want you to summarize, which means to put into your own words,
what the rule is saying and how it applies to the concept of respect. After
about 8 minutes, we’ll return to the whole class and share what we
discovered.
 Reflect

Review the summarized or “plain terms” rules that you

examined and how they can follow the rules on a daily basis.
Ask volunteers to suggest ways these rules apply specifically
to the classroom setting. Encourage students to go home and
discuss the handbook with their parents or guardians. Have
them ask their parents/guardians if they remember signing the
handbook contract and if they know what is in it. If not, perhaps
they can review it together. Consider offering an incentive for
students who review the full handbook with parents and return
a signed parent note expressing such action by the end of the
week.
 Respect: Lesson 4

This is our last week of lessons for the Respect Unit. So far
we have talked about what it means to respect ourselves,
others, and things (especially when it comes to school).
With a quick show of hands, how many of you have
thought more about these concepts or paid more attention
to respect - respecting ourselves, others, and things - more
in the last three weeks because of these lessons?
 Inspire

Our last lesson is about how we see respect demonstrated (or not!) in popular culture. We get so
many messages every day - online, on TV, in music, on billboards, and in ads - and not all of them are
positive. In fact, we see a number of negative messages every day, sometimes every few minutes.

Sometimes, when someone intentionally uses their online platform to be cruel and disrespect to
someone else, this is called “trolling”. Have you ever heard this word? The goal for the person who is
trolling another is to get them to react. It is a lot like the concept of “trolling” when fishing. When
you are trolling as a fisherperson, you are dragging your baited line slowly behind your boat, trying to
lure the fish to bite. The same is true when a person is trolling online. They are hoping if they say
enough nasty things, the person they are disrespecting or bullying will bite back. This also falls into
the realm of cyberbullying, which is when a person uses digital technology to bully or treat another
person in a cruel manner. This goes beyond disrespect, though.

Today we are going to explore more of the subtle messages we hear in our culture today that could
skew us toward behaving disrespectfully more so than respectfully (and vice-versa). We will talk
about cyberbullying in another lesson.
 Empower

Project the following headlines up on the smartboard (print and

handout to small groups if you cannot project). You can also find your
own local or more meaningful headlines.

Have students analyze and discuss each one and ask if/how respect is
being shown. Encourage students to look specifically at the words
used in the headlines, the tone, and the overall message.
 Reflect

Invite students to reflect on what you’ve just discussed and to look

for and think about the messages they see in pop culture. Remind
students to think about what the messages are communicating: the
words used, the themes, and the images. Tell them to evaluate each
one for elements of respect.
RAKs

Try to do as many of
these as possible in
February! Try to think
of others! Keep track
in your Journal folder
on the RAKs page.
Kindness Rocks Arts Project
 Materials

– Rocks
– Paint
– Paintbrushes and pallets
– Sharpies
– Lacquer
 Brainstorm

– What can we write on our rocks?

Step 1

Find a perfect rock:

round or oval, flat
or smooth, fits
into the palms of
your hands.
Step 2

Paint your rock

and let it dry.
Step 3

Choose your
expressions and
write them on.
Step 4

Decorate the
remainder of your
rock with Sharpies
or metallic
markers.
Step 5

Place rocks where

they will inspire
others.