Cushman students celebrate kindness, reading

Cushman Elementary School students finished their month-long Kindness Challenge with one last stop: The March 18 School Committee meeting.

As part of the school’s Spotlight on Kids presentation, two students presented the committee with their special posters and mason jars filled with goodies.

It was the final stop for the program which has spread kindness throughout Cushman and beyond. Principal Melissa McHenry explained the program began in January, inspired by students’ reading of the book One Kind Deed.

The book tells a story of how one good deed - in this case, baking a blueberry pie for a neighbor - can grow into a community-wide effort. Inspired by the book, students were challenged to “make kindness contagious” by spreading good in the school building.

“We wanted to take the challenge up a notch this year,” McHenry said.

Each student and classroom was given a checklist encouraging students to complete random acts of kindness in school. Once students complete the checklist, they added a heart to the school’s kindness tree.

Not content with containing it to Cushman, students took their message on the road. Students visited the library, Brandon Woods, the Council on Aging, and the Schwartz Center to spread the message.

Kindness was not the only highlight Cushman administrators brought with them to the meeting. Teachers also highlighted the school’s reading workshop program.

As students begin to develop their writing and reading skills in kindergarten, teachers are guiding them in writing narratives, arguments, opinions, and informational tasks using a workshop model.

Kids get lessons directed by their teacher first, and are then free to work as either a whole group or individually to practice reading and writing.

Several students read books they created in class. The books ranged in topics from caring for snakes to why rainbows are amazing.