Celebrating the Good!

Each week in 6th grade, we are devoting time to celebrate the good things that are happening in our world. Because the news we hear about each day can quickly become bogged down with cruelty, violence, and tragedy, we wanted the students to recognize that there are many positive acts happening around us that deserve recognition and discussion.

Students read one current event article a week published about a good deed done in our world. It can be something done by a child, adult, celebrity, etc. It's important for them to see that even the smallest of acts can make a huge difference.

After reading, students write a short reflection that contains their opinion and reaction to the article. We then follow that up with a discussion. We have read two articles so far and each focused on a child, younger than themselves, who did a selfless act to make a difference. Words the students used to describe the acts included "amazing, inspiring, surprising, kind".

This time is beneficial in so many ways: students are becoming more fluent in reading and analyzing informational text, they are building their vocabularies through our discussion, and last but not least, they are left with a heart-warming story to motivate and inspire them to be world changers as well.