Editor’s note: This press release was provided by the Pelham Union Free School District. The Pelham Examiner publishes press releases in the form received as a service to the community.

Congratulations to Alyssha Miro’s 4th grade class at Siwanoy for being named one of just five winners from 50 entries nationwide in Scholastic News’ Edition 4 Kindness in the Classroom Contest!

Before entering the contest, the class read the Scholastic News article about Orion Jean, an 11-year old who is on a mission to spread kindness in the world. Then, the students answered a writing prompt stating why the goal of making their classroom a place where kindness shines is important. The class wrote: “All kids should feel welcome and being kind makes it possible. Just one act of kindness can fill an entire classroom. No matter how small an act, it can make someone’s day brighter. We don’t want anyone to feel alone.”

The students who were inspired by the article and their school’s word of month, “kindness,” then came up with three steps to make their classroom a kinder place:

• Be positive. Avoid negative or hurtful comments. Treat others how they want to be treated. To make sure this happens we will do a daily reminder or affirmation about being kind. We will have a “KINDNESS” board up in the classroom so we can share what we see and do that reflects kindness.”
• At the beginning of the day we can share our kindness goals. At the close of the day we can reflect on how we achieved our goals and share how it felt. This will ensure others understand the feelings/emotions that connect to kindness even if it is a random act.
• We will use the following themes…”Mindful Monday,” “Togetherness Tuesday,” “Woo-Hoo Wednesday,” “Thoughtful Thursday” and “Feelings Friday” to incorporate opportunities to share with one another, so we build/connect our classroom community even more!”

In announcing that the class was one of the winners, Scholastic News Edition 4 Editorial Director Nicole Tocco said, “The students’ ideas were very inspirational and are sure to spread kindness. Thanks for taking the time to enter the contest and to think about how to be kind in your classroom!”

As a winner Scholastic sent the class a copy of “A Kids Book About Leadership” by Orion Jean.