February is known as the month of love and friendship. There is no better model of this to look towards than Mary, the mother of Jesus, whom our school is named after. Mary, like any mother, loved Jesus: she cared for him, fed and clothed him, and worried about him when they lost Him for three days. We can choose to be like Mary by caring for others around us. Each month students who complete Acts of Kindness have their name put in a draw. Pink Shirt Day takes place on February 27 this year. This day came about because of an act of kindness done by a few teenage boys in Nova Scotia. They saw that a grade nine student was being bullied for wearing a pink shirt and so they purchased a bunch of pink tank tops. The story was featured on the news and it has now become an international day and the pink shirt is a symbol of kindness. For students and parents who need a shirt, we will be selling shirts for 15$ as the theme this year is Choose Kindness.
Another quality that Mary demonstrates is being a great friend. When the angel Gabriel told Mary that her cousin Elizabeth was pregnant and needed help, Mary immediately left to help her. Even though Mary was pregnant and the trip was about ninety miles on a rocky, hilly road, she didn’t hesitate to help out. While there she for three months she helped with household chores and with the birth of the baby. Not only does Mary model for us what to do, but the School Act also says that students shall contribute positively to the school and community and behave in a manner that is welcoming, caring, and respectful. To help instill those qualities in our students we are working with students in grades 3-5 to help develop their friendship skills. Currently we have three groups running where students are learning about positive qualities in friends and skills to help with situations that come up in the course of a day like playing a game, joining in, sharing, apologizing or expressing feelings. We are trying to instill in students some of the qualities Mary demonstrated, such as, compassion, consideration, courage, and perseverance.
A third quality of Mary is that she is a problem solver and takes action when needed. At the wedding feast of Cana Mary saw that the wine had run out and she went to Jesus and interceded on behalf of the newlyweds. She told the servants to do whatever Jesus tells them to do and Jesus worked his first public miracle by turning the water into wine. We want our students to be a problem solver like Mary. To assist with this, we are blessed to have Alison Luxe from Alberta Health Services presenting to all our students about how to be a problem solver. Alison uses the acronym “APIE” for the process. First students must Assess the problem, then they make a Plan to solve it, next they Implement the plan and finally they Evaluate how it went. If it didn’t work then they go back to the Assess stage and try again. Alison works through the model with the students by giving them some problems to solve and we are using the same model in our friendship skills groups. This is a model that you can use with your children at home too.
This month I’d like to challenge our community to follow Mary’s example by demonstrating kindness. Random Acts of Kindness Day #RAKDay is celebrated on February 17. Personally I do not like the word “Random” when talking about acts of kindness as Merriam Webster defines it as “lacking a definite plan, purpose, or pattern”. Instead, they should to be “Planned” or “Intentional” as we put thought into being kind to others. During February, plan to Share your Bounty by planning and performing at least one act of kindness each week. #PAKMonth
Here are 10 ideas to get you started doing Planned Acts of Kindness during the month of February:
Hold the door open for someone.
Leave kind notes around the school or the house.
Pick up trash or litter.
Compliment someone.
Sit with someone new at lunch.
Collect books for the library.
Clean up without being asked.
Write inspirational chalk messages on the sidewalk.
If we get some, shovel snow for a neighbor.
Smile at everyone. It is contagious.
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