In 2014, Slinger Elementary hosted it's first Kindness Retreat. We have loved this event so much that for the last few years, we have continued to support this wonderful learning opportunity.
Our school believes that to do well in school, students need to be comfortable with who they are and feel physically and emotionally safe. In an effort to create a safe and caring culture, we are bringing in Youth Frontiers to facilitate a Kindness Retreat. This retreat will not only help us increase kindness and decrease bullying, but also offers an opportunity for our students to learn in a new, exciting, non-traditional manner.
Since 1987 Youth Frontiers, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization based in Minneapolis, has been delivering programs to build positive school communities that help young people realize the importance of respecting themselves and others. Their vision is to change the way young people treat each other in every hallway, lunch line and classroom of every school in America so that today’s young people make tomorrow’s world better. Last year, Youth Frontiers worked with nearly 100,000 students and educators throughout the country.
On the day of the Kindness Retreat, the Youth Frontiers retreat staff will focus on creating a more positive school community by engaging students in a variety of activities that build students’ empathy skills and teach safe ways to help prevent bullying.
To continue the positive effects of the experience, we believe it’s important for the entire community to be involved in supporting and communicating the messages delivered on the retreat. Because of this, we encourage parents and caregivers to inquire about the retreat experience once the student returns home by asking the following questions:
1. What activities did you find fun?
2. What were the small group leaders like?
3. What were some of the unkind actions going on at school that you discussed?
4. Have you been affected by the unkind actions?
5. Did you talk about how you as a class can work on that?
6. What was the most important thing you learned?
7. What is one thing you can do tomorrow at school to show kindness?
The staff at Slinger Elementary is excited to offer this wonderful learning opportunity to our students.
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