Every Wednesday while at school, Castaic Elementary School staff and students would celebrate kindness.
“We always wear our kindness T-shirts, put up our ‘Be Kind’ signs around the school and promote kindness,” impact teacher Terri Stillson said.
Because students are now distance learning, Stillson and several colleagues had the idea to take “Kindness Wednesdays” on the road, “social distancing-style,” she said.
Principal Allison West sent out word to the rest of the staff, then told parents that a surprise was coming so they’d be prepared.
“We made signs, decorated our cars and met at our school, then we paraded through the local neighborhoods for two hours, honking our horns, smiling, waving and telling our students from our car windows how much we missed them,” Stillson said.
Along the way, the caravan, which consisted of at least a dozen cars, encountered the smiling faces of many of their students. “Some of them ended up making signs for us as well, so it was cute.”
Though simple, the idea received a lot of positive feedback from parents and staff alike.
“It not only brought much-needed joy to our students and families, but also to all of us,” Stillson added. “We miss our students, who we consider our other families, so very much.”
Because it was such a hit, staff quickly got to work planning their second kindness surprise.
The next week, each decorated a sign and took a photo to create a message that read, “Hello Castaic Cubs! Our staff misses you so much! Stay healthy! Have a fabulous spring break!”
The Castaic Elementary staff plan to continue finding creative ways of spreading smiles each week as kids continue to stay safer at home.
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