A kindness club for 5th graders

Parker Elementary School is in Elk River, Minnesota. There were some issues in the fifth grade of kids not being very nice to each other," said a social worker at the school. Teachers had talked to students and told them something had to change, because "that's just not how you treat people."

Fifth-grade teacher Matt Greenhoe was talking about this in class when student Ady Bollinger suggested they form a Kindness Club. Since then, the club has blossomed. Ady says they started the club to feel safer at school and stop bullying. It has initiated several kindness projects. There is now a bucket on display where people can drop notes about random acts of kindness they have seen. Club members read these during school announcements. Before Christmas, club members started Operation Candy Cane, where they gave all 600 students a candy cane with a note. During Holly Jolly Week, they put kindness notes on lockers of students with special needs. Now they are rehearsing a play based on the book "Stop" about a girl who is bullied and the friend who helps her. Greenhoe says students give up recess time to work on the Kindness Club.