RAK: Make Christmas Decorations

During my first few years of teaching, I read a book by Ron Clark called The Essential 55. Besides being an extremely entertaining story, Ron talks about 55 'life rules' that he imparted to his students each year. 

The one rule that really stood out to me was Rule 11: "Surprise others by performing random acts of kindness. Go out of your way to do something surprisingly kind and generous for someone at least once a month. " My students and I decided that we would brainstorm and do a RAK (Random Act of Kindness) each month at our school and it turned out to be one of the most enjoyable parts of our year. While not technically *random,* these act were a great way to teach my students the value of being kind to others.

Want to join the club? Each month, we are going to highlight a different RAK that you can do with your class. You can choose to do this or any RAK of your choosing. Don't forget to come back and share with us how it went! 


This month's RAK:

Make Christmas decorations to give away.

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Here's some tips for doing this RAK: 

• Choose a local organization (ex: homeless shelter, youth center, adult home, soup kitchen) and speak with the director to find out what kind of decoration they would like. Do they want something to decorate a tree? A centerpiece for their tables? Something to hang from the ceiling or on the wall?

• A simpler option might be to make decorations for one of the areas in your school- your library, cafeteria, teacher's lounge, etc.

• Some ideas for things to make might be simple ornaments, paper chains, Christmas cards or holiday-themed drawings. 

Click here to find past RAK ideas.

It's your turn now! Go brainstorm a RAK with your class or use the one found here. Then come back and tell us how it went! 


Do you have a good RAK idea? I'd love to hear them! You never know...they might just be featured on YTA in the future :)