Sheila's Books Read

Sheila's bookshelf: read

The Best Intentions
Scotland's Melody
The Secret Society of Salzburg
Secret of the Sonnets
20-40-60-Minute Dinners: Meals to Match the Time You Have
Through the Wilderness: My Journey of Redemption and Healing in the American Wild
Secret Santa Claus Club: A Tool to Help Parents Unwrap the Secret of Santa
Mr. Pudgins
Revenge Never Rests
The Best Mistake
Meriden Park
More Inspirational Stories for Young Women
The Great Tree: A Christmas Fable
To Capture His Heart
The Call of the Sea
Esperance
Livvy and the Enchanted Woodland
Come, Gentle Night
The Bad Boy Theory
Guide To Smart Wedding Planning: What You want to know and everything you haven't thought of yet.


Sheila's favorite books »

2024 Goodreads Reading Challenge

2024 Reading Challenge

2024 Reading Challenge
Sheila has read 4 books toward her goal of 100 books.
hide

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Random Acts of Kindness Giveaway Hop

Random Acts of Kindness Giveaway Hop.

February 17th to 24th
 Thanks to...
for hosting this giveaway!

February 17th is Random Acts of Kindness Day.

I found a great article on the Random Acts of Kindness.org page. 



Does Kindness Matter?

Random Acts of Kindness (RAK) Foundation thinks so. RAK has forged a school based pilot in Colorado to assess the implementation of kindness activities in school. What difference will it make?
In 2008, the Colorado State Board of Education passed a set of social emotional learning competencies that focus on skills needed for a "prepared graduate" in the 21st century. Some of these skills include problem solving, conflict resolution, communication skills, decision making skills and stress management. (CDE Standards and Support & CDE Health and Wellness)
The Random Acts of Kindness school based initiative includes lesson plans and classroom activities that directly correlate with many of these  new state  standards – providing academic staff a way to teach and reinforce these new skills for their students.
The Colorado experience:
Spark Policy Institute has been contracted to design and implement an evaluation that analyzes multiple Kindness components in school, including instructional materials, staff training and related student and staff events. Both qualitative and quantitative analysis and stakeholder feedback allowed us to:
  • Assess the success of the 2011-2012 School Based  Kindness Pilot implementation;
  • Review how the RAK Pilot contributed to the social emotional learning development of students and the overall environment for students and staff;
  • Identify strategies to guide expansion into future school sites; and
  • Inform on-going research and potential publication about best practices of Kindness in schools, school based implementation processes and resulting district, building and classroom-level effects.
  • http://sparkpolicy.com/strategiclearning.htm
Finding results that matter!
During the 2011-2012 school year, teachers voluntarily provided feedback about the use of the kindness materials, time, cost, alignment with curriculum and ease or difficulty of use. Teachers overwhelmingly felt the activities were:
  • Clearly laid out;
  • Adaptable based on teachers’ needs and time;
  • Useful in teaching new skills and engaging youth in kindness oriented work.
They also reported that the materials complemented other behavioral and social emotional learning programs already within schools such as PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support) and Second Step.
At the end of the school year, teachers were asked to report what changes they had seen in their students. Nearly 40 classroom teachers and paraprofessionals responded to the end-of-year survey and 63% of them indicated seeing increased social emotional development in their students. Many of the teachers and staff who observed social emotional growth in their students indicated that RAK’s instructional materials were helpful tools with which to teach the Colorado P-12 Social Emotional Learning standards.
(Summary of Research)
Resources/Links to Other Websites:
Colorado Department of Education. (2009). Comprehensive health & physical education.  Denver, CO: Author.
Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (n.d.). Social and emotional learning (SEL) and student benefits: Implications for safe schools/healthy students core elements.  Chicago, IL: Author.
RAK School Based Pilot Evaluation Report, August 2011 – June 2012, JulieMarie Shepherd, Natalie Portman-Marsh and, Jewlya Lyn (LINK)

Learn More at http://www.randomactsofkindness.org/

My Random Act of Kindness to you is, I'm giving away a $5.00 Amazon.com Gift Certificate.

Enter with the Rafflecopter form and then
go visit the other blogs participating!
Thank for coming to Why Not? Because I Said So!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

34 comments:

  1. I was taking a night art class and had become friends with a woman. We used to set up our easels side by side. One evening she came in with tears in her eyes. She didn't know it but I had brought some roses to paint from home.

    When she was out of the room, I laid the roses on her chair. She came back and loved the roses, I didn't tell her that I had put them there. All night, she was beaming and looking at the roses.

    CarolNWong(at)aol(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  2. In a crowded waiting room, I stood up and let an elderly person have my seat. =)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Someone paid for my order in the drive thru was very cool

    ReplyDelete
  4. My mom is always sweet to make sure my husband and I go on dates so she'll watch our little girl

    ReplyDelete
  5. I adopted a family at Christmas and provided toys for the kids.
    beh2351@frontier.com

    ReplyDelete
  6. I think one of the best acts of kindness is to see someone. Really see them. Sometimes I get frustrated with people, but if I allow myself to see them, their problems, their lives, their perspective, I'm able to be what they need. A shoulder to cry on, a sounding wall, even a temporary (verbal) punching bag at times. To be that person without judgement or retaliation is a wonderful act of kindness.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I was able to help a family out that was struggling. Their children were in need of clothes and school supplies and my family was able to help. It always feels good to give to others.

    ReplyDelete
  8. About a month ago I was in a Chick-Fil-A drive thru and the car in front of me bought my meal. I was so happy to find that there are still selfless people in the world! Since my meal was paid for, I paid it forward and bought the meal of the car behind mine! I felt really good doing it!

    Thanks so much for this generous giveaway!

    ReplyDelete
  9. my friends gave mesome great books that i want ....

    ReplyDelete
  10. I gave one of my friends that can't drive a ride to and from a fireside. One of my favorite acts of kindness was when my little brother and I were waiting in line at Walmart, behind a lady with a lot of stuff, and we were in a big hurry, and she let us go in front of her!

    ReplyDelete
  11. let a homeless teen move in with us. he is the sweetest kid ever. it's more of a blessing to me than to him sometimes!

    cc_clubbs [at] yahoo [dot] com

    ReplyDelete
  12. Having my windshield get wiped off of snow was really nice.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thanks for the giveaway!! Random acts of kindness happen all the time. Sometimes we don't even notice when they occur. Living on a christian college campus, I'm constantly thanking people for opening doors to the point of ridiculousness. In fact, the other day while I was working at the campus store, a young boy, probably the age of 16, found $17 on the floor and turned it in claiming that someone had dropped it. How honest and sweet is that!?
    Happy Valentine's Day and I hope your day is filled with random acts of kindness!

    mestith at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  14. I would like to go up to someone with $100 say take this and run away :)

    ReplyDelete
  15. A total stranger paid for my lunch once...

    atthemapletable at yahoo dot com

    ReplyDelete
  16. Somebody opened the door for me at a store. It's nice to know that chivalry isn't dead!

    ReplyDelete
  17. I would love to make a habit to cook dinner for my family. I really have to work on that.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I gave money to a teen at the gas station who ran out gas
    and had no way to pay for more to get home. I did however
    give him a small lecture on planning ahead.

    ReplyDelete
  19. buying coffee for the person behind me in line

    ReplyDelete
  20. Gave up my seat so a few middle aged ladies could sit together instead of splitting up.

    ReplyDelete
  21. gave money to a homeless woman

    sarah sar
    texan_michael AT yahoo DOT com

    ReplyDelete
  22. The only thing I can think of in the past few days is giving money to a man who was holding a sign about being homeless. It was snowing, and freeing, so I felt good about helping him out.
    sqwalker2@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  23. I've bought some kitchen stuff for my mom, so that she didn't have to spend her own money.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Once it was raining heavily here and I was walking towards the bus stand because rain or not, I had to go to work. But at one point I reached a place where there was too much water and I knew even in my high heels, it will be higher than my ankles. I was searching around to find a way around when a total stranger came towards me and dragged some bricks into my way. It was just 4 bricks placed at equal distances from each other, like a path!. I was so shocked. He didn’t wait around to be thanked. Just walked away!. I quickly crossed using the bricks and reached the bus stand. Thanks for this giveaway!.

    ReplyDelete
  25. i let someone use my phone at a bus stop, carawling(at)hotmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  26. I cooked a full dinner for my family :)

    ReplyDelete
  27. I made some soup for a sick friend.
    Thanks for the giveaway.

    ReplyDelete
  28. I don't consider it a RAK, just my duty, but my husband had his wisdom teeth out today, so I took the day off and was his nurse all day.

    ReplyDelete
  29. I helped a very lost and confused lady last week on the subway. :)
    Thank you for the giveaway. :3

    ReplyDelete
  30. I would love to be able to donate a large amount of money to a local free clinic to help them with all the great work that they do.

    ReplyDelete
  31. I ironed all of my Dad's work shirts. Thanks for your random act of kindness!

    ReplyDelete
  32. I recently helped my friend's mom with a computer course she's taking...

    ReplyDelete
  33. The other day someone paid for my order in the drive thru. This had never happened before, I couldn't believe it

    ReplyDelete
  34. Recently at work (I'm a cashier) a customer gave me a wonderful compliment. It made my day!

    ReplyDelete