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- ❤️ Celebrating kindness in the K-2 classroom
❤️ Celebrating kindness in the K-2 classroom
Plus great resources for teaching patterns and behavior reward cards
Karly Moura & Christina Sciarrotto
November 04, 2025
We can all use a little more kindness in our lives.
This week in What’s New in K-2, we're diving into simple yet impactful strategies to brighten encourage kindness. We will also share a catchy patterns song that will have your students dancing and learning along with a treasure trove of ideas to spark engagement. Plus, discover a teacher-approved find for positive reinforcement, a giggle to brighten your day, and of course, an invitation to share your own brilliant ideas.
Inside:
💡 Tips, Tools and Templates: 60 second strategy: Pom-pom jar
📺 Teaching with Teachflix Junior: Patterns song
🛍️Teacher Finds for the Classroom: Punch cards
😄 Giggle of the Week: Best part of story time.
❤️ Share your ideas with us!
💡 Tips, Tools and Templates
🥰 The Pom-Pom Jar: A simple ways to celebrate kindness
We all know that a positive classroom environment is essential for young learners. That’s why I love this simple yet powerful strategy straight from John C. Haines Elementary School, featured in Edutopia's "Schools That Work" series: the "Pom-Pom Jar."
How it works:
Focus on Positive Behavior: The Pom-Pom Jar is all about recognizing and celebrating acts of kindness, helpfulness, and good citizenship.
Visual Reinforcement: When a student demonstrates a positive behavior, the teacher adds a pom-pom to a clear jar.
Collective Goal: The class works together to fill the jar, creating a sense of shared accomplishment.
Celebration: Once the jar is full, the class enjoys a predetermined reward, like extra recess, a special activity, or a class party.
Explicit Teaching: Teachers using this method also focus on explicitly teaching what kindeness looks like, and feels like.
Why it's great for K-2:
Simple and Engaging: Young children respond well to visual cues and immediate reinforcement.
Promotes Social-Emotional Learning: It encourages empathy, cooperation, and a sense of community.
Builds a Positive Classroom Culture: It shifts the focus from negative behaviors to positive ones.
Easy to Implement: It requires minimal materials and can be adapted to any classroom.
Try it in your classroom! The Pom-Pom Jar is a fun and effective way to foster a kind and supportive learning environment for our youngest students.
More ways to promote kindness in your K-2 classroom:
Embark on a kindness scavenger hunt like this one created by KiddieMatters.
Play kindness Bingo with this template from Ms. Kucukyilmaz on Canva.
Listen to or read Kindness is My Superpower and have students create a poster (like this one) together a that showcases their own kindness superhero.
📺 Teaching with Teachflix Junior
😁❤️😁❤️ Learn Patterns 😁❤️😁❤️
🎥 Video Link: Learn Patterns Song Game with Miss Patty
This engaging video effectively introduces simple AB patterns to young learners through a catchy, repetitive song, making learning fun and memorable. The repetitive nature of the song, coupled with likely visual aids, helps children grasp the pattern concept. Furthermore, the video promotes active participation by prompting children to predict the next element, fostering critical thinking and pattern recognition. The clever increase in pacing throughout the video challenges students to stay focused, reinforcing their understanding of the pattern.
Key points covered in the video:
Simple patterns: This video presents AB patterns but increased the speed that learners will read them.
Can be easily adapted: The catchy song can easily be adapted for different or more complex patterns. AABB Pattern example:
I see patterns next to you.Do you see the patterns too?
When I stop tell me what it should be.
What is the color that you see?
Red, Red, Blue, Blue, Red, Red, Blue, Blue, Red, Red what's next?
Blue!
Ready-made video resources:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Proin augue diam, molestie ac ante a, convallis aliquam mauris.
✏️ Kindergarten Patterns Workbook
This Kindergarten Patterns Workbook created by Sylph Creatives on Canva is the perfect companion to this or other simple patterns videos. It’s full of different types of patterns that get increasingly more complex
 | This workbook can be downloaded as a PDF and used right away or click on the Canva template link and edit it to fit your class. Find more FREE ready-to-use patterns worksheets on Canva by clicking here. |
🛍️Teacher Finds for the Classroom
🎉Punch cards
Looking for a fresh and engaging way to motivate your little learners? I stumbled upon these adorable behavior reward punch cards and had to share!
Why I Love Them:
Vibrant & Kid-Friendly: The colorful designs and cute elements are sure to capture your students' attention.
Durable & Safe: Made from thick art paper with rounded corners, these cards are built to withstand tiny hands.
Easy to Use: Clearly labeled name and reward fields, plus a subtle punch guide, make tracking progress a breeze.
Perfect for Positive Reinforcement: These cards provide a tangible way to celebrate and encourage positive behavior, fostering a supportive classroom environment.
These punch cards are perfect for:
🤭 Giggle of the Week
🎤 Storytime is when my inner voice actor comes out.
h/t to Kindergarten Corps