RAK Day

Sunday the first of September is National RAK Day and Monday is Somerville's RAK Day.

Looking forward to spreading the kindness. I'd better get my thinking hat on and see what great ideas I can come up with.

Here's a link to print out RAK cards if you'd like some more.
RAK Cards

Week 5

Mikayla's poster

Lucas' poster

We all have different strengths and skills. Some of us are good at maths, some of us are good at sports and some of us are good at drawing. Sometimes an act of kindness could be sharing our skills with others, helping them to develop their own ability in that area. It's kind because you are giving up your time to help someone else.

This week I will focus on sharing my skills with others. I started on Monday night, by spending the evening with my eldest daughter helping her set up her first blog. She is going to use it a bit like a CV to help get a job as a primary school teacher. She is currently working in an early childhood centre so when she gets better she might set up a blog for her classroom.

On Thursday I helped Mr Pearson and Mrs Ready. I showed them how to use the gadget, 'add images' to the sidebar of their blog and add a link to any website or you tube clip. They really appreciated the help and left excited and looking forward to adding more to their blogs.

It felt good to help other people, but I was left wondering. Do I wait now for someone else to pay forward and spend time teaching me a new skill or was my time helping these people me paying forward for the many times in the past people have helped me?

Finally I am loving all the RAKs that are happening around the classroom, from people helping others with physical tasks to people baking cupcakes and writing nice notes for each other. I was treated to the most delicious chocolate cupcakes one morning and some lovely handpicked flowers another.

Gaarunyaa and Mikayla did a fantastic job speaking at assembly telling the whole school about what we are doing and convincing them all to get involved in Somerville's RAK day next Monday. We have all made awesome posters which we've hung all around the school and each day we have put inspirational You Tube clips on the daily notices.

A delicious morning tea treat!

RAK Day at Somerville

Our syndicate is going to encourage the whole school of over 900 students to do participate in RAK Day. At Somerville Monday September will be the day we all plan an act of kindness towards others. We have done presentations at assemblies to tell others about the day and are currently making posters to hang around the school. We are looking forward to a day where everyone focuses on brightening up the day for others.

RAK Day Poster

Week Four

So this week my kind deed was to help out a friend.

I have two older daughters aged 18 and 21 so never have trouble finding a babysitter if I need a night out. My friend has three young children. Sometimes my daughter babysits for her, but it costs $10 an hour. I imagine going out to a movie or to dinner would be quite expensive if you have to pay for a babysitter as well as your tickets or meal.

She is a very special friend and she had a rough week so I thought she deserved a night out. I sent her an email explaining that she should organise to go out for lunch or to a movie with her husband. Then I made a voucher which read something like:

This voucher entitles the bearer to two hours worth of babysitting. I even made up an expiry date.
It was kinda fun:-)

I will just pay my daughter for the two hours.

Could you make someone a voucher? Perhaps a voucher for Mum that says she is entitled to a cup of tea, or help making dinner. Perhaps a voucher to clean Dad's car, read to your little brother or walk the neighbour's dog?

RAK Day - Sunday September the 1st

On Sunday the first of September it is Random Act of Kindness Day. You would be wise to plan your weekly act of kindness for Sunday. What you might like to do is spread the word and convince other people to also do something kind on that day. Perhaps you could make a poster to hang in the school somewhere.

The suggestions in this poster and aimed at adults. Can you think of deeds more suitable for kids your age?

RAK day poster

Week Three

On Monday some lovely person put
three lovely home made cookies on my desk, wrapped beautifully in a pink bow. What a lovely surprise! They were delicious and gave me a great idea for my weekly act of kindness.



Every Friday the teachers have a special morning tea. We all take turns bringing in lots of yummy treats. This Friday is Syndicate C's turn. My daughter has allergies and can't eat a variety of foods and I know how disappointed she gets at birthday parties and shared lunches when she can't partake in these fun events.

The Vegan cupcake I bought for a colleague

One teacher in our school is vegan which means he doesn't eat any animals or animal products, so no dairy, eggs or meat. There is usually nothing at our morning teas that he can eat. I have decided I will go to a special shop called The Cup Cake Fairy and buy him a vegan cupcake for his morning tea. We often go there to buy these for Chloe. She loves them so hopefully he will too.

http://www.thecupcakefairy.co.nz/

A lovely surprise left on my desk!

Week Two

This week's act of kindness was something small, but big. What do I mean? Well sometimes the little things can make a big difference.

On Wednesday evening an elderly lady was at the supermarket and when she pulled something off the shelf lots of other packets fell to the floor. She was a little embarrassed so I made her feel better by saying, "don't you hate when that happens." Then I picked them up for her. It didn't take me long at all, but I could see she really appreciated it.

Have you ever walked past someone when they were picking things up off the floor?

How nice would our world be if EVERYONE stopped to help others ALL the time?

They say what goes around comes around and I think this is true. After tech and spec on Thursday two of my students came in and were excited to tell me how they did a random act of kindness. On the way to class a teacher aide was carrying lots of orange speech cards and dropped them all over the floor. They kindly picked them up for her. Holding up my newly laminated orange speech cards I said, "did they look like this?" Our lovely teacher aide was kindly doing me a favour. Cutting and laminating my speech cards for me. In the process my students helped her. It's like a chain. Who will be next?

Read Karishma's side of this story.

Read Alana's side of the story.