Elementary schoolers already have a tendency to be kind, but this week at Mary Farmar Elementary School, students are taking it to a whole new level.

For the second year in a row, Farmar is taking part in the Great Kindness Challenge, an international bullying prevention initiative in which students spend the last week of January trying to perform as many acts of kindness as possible. The Great Kindness Challenge is presented by nonprofit group Kids for Peace and has had more than 15,000 students in 91 countries participate.

The challenge was brought to Farmar last year by Tammy Harley, a Special Day Class teacher with the Solano County Office of Education who instructs special education students at Farmar. In its initial year, Harley said participation was pretty minimal and primarily involved her class. Students would address the school through the intercom with such chants as “When I say Mary, you say Farmar!” or “When I say kindness, you say matters!” Harley’s class also decorated hearts and placed them on the windshields of teachers’ cars, and they distributed “Kindness Matters” fliers to their peers. What started out as a modest event was well-received enough that Harley was able to get the entire school involved this year with even bigger events.

One of the biggest features this year is Kindness Stations set up during recess, where students can perform different activities. On Monday, the station had pieces of paper where students could write notes to their teachers.

“The template said, ‘My teacher makes me feel special when…’ and the students were drawing a picture and writing a sentence to give to their teacher,” Harley said.

On Tuesday, students made paper chains which are now hanging in the school’s hallway.

“I had students write their names and an act of kindness that they have participated in,” Harley said.

On Wednesday, students made hearts to give to their friends. Today, kids are designing bookmarks, and the week will all culminate Friday with a schoolwide aerial Living Kindness picture featuring 600 participants.

Harley’s class has also taken part in collecting data on each smile, high five and fist bump they receive from students walking in each morning. On Monday, students received between 25 and 45, more than 80 on Tuesday and over 100 on Wednesday.

“Once kids got involved with it, parents got involved with it having a lot of people walk by my classroom in the morning,” Harley said.

Harley said parents have been a major help, volunteering their time to cut out hearts and bookmarks for the students to build their designs on.

“It has really been overwhelmingly amazing,” she said.

The primary goal, Harley said, has been to reinforce the notion to students that kindness matters.

“Every single act, no matter how small, can build upon and make a difference to people,” she said.

Harley is also grateful for what special education students have been able to accomplish.

“It’s important for me to let everyone know how amazing my students with disabilities are and how kind they are and that they can make a difference too,” she said. “I have already seen this week an increase in the peer interactions between my students with special needs and the general ed population. They are already joining in with them, coming by with our high fives and our fist bumps. Kindness is showing at Mary Farmar this week.”

SCOE is one of four county offices of education to be designated as Kindness Certified, and Farmar Principal Wendy Smith has registered for the school to receive that title. For more information on the Great Kindness Challenge, go to thegreatkindnesschallenge.com.

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