Love and Kindness Weeks at Copper Hills Elementary

This article was written by Matt Papendorf, Principal of Copper Hills Elementary School in the Clovis Unified School District in California. Matt has spent 14 years in education, 12 of them at Copper Hills, where he began as a 6th grade teacher and later served as vice principal before returning as principal four years ago. Copper Hills serves students from transitional kindergarten through 6th grade.

There are many success stories connected to our implementation of The Positivity Project (P2) at Copper Hills. P2 is built on 24 character strengths drawn from the VIA Classification. Our teachers work through one strength each week with short daily lessons, so every student from transitional kindergarten through 6th grade is studying the same strength at the same time. This program has helped us focus on all kinds of character strengths and develop positive character in our students.

Many good moments come to mind from our weekly lessons. Two weeks from this year stand out. One we centered on was love, and one was kindness.

Love Monster and the Week of Valentine’s Day

One recent example is our focus on love during the week of Valentine’s Day. Our TK and kindergarten students read Love Monster by Rachel Bright and discussed how life is full of ups and downs, and how every day is special. They talked about loving one another and finding ways to make each day fun and positive.

Students then created their own versions of the Love Monster, making them unique and sharing them with their classmates. It was a good week where students felt welcomed, valued, and loved. Reading the same book across our TK and kindergarten classrooms meant our youngest students all had the same story to talk about that week.

Random Acts of Kindness Across Campus

Another week focused on kindness. Students participated in random acts of kindness across campus, and our student council took the lead.

They created flyers with ideas for kind acts, presented those ideas in classrooms, and then posted the flyers around campus. They also designed a “Be the I in KIND” photo backdrop where students could take a pledge to show kindness and have their picture taken. It was a good week of inclusivity and reflection, as students actively looked for ways to make others’ lives better through thoughtful gestures.

What Our Student Council Did During These Character Weeks

The leadership and ownership shown by our student council has been especially good to see. They wrote the flyers, stood up in front of classrooms full of their peers to present them, and built the backdrop themselves. The ideas came from students rather than from adults, and their classmates responded positively to that. Our student council is made up of students from our upper grades, which meant younger students were hearing about love and kindness from peers a few years ahead of them.

Shaping the Culture at Copper Hills

These are just a few examples of how these character strengths have helped shape the climate and culture at Copper Hills. Love and kindness are two of the 24 strengths our students work through over the course of the year, in weekly lessons across every grade level.

We are proud of our staff and students for engaging in these daily activities and having good discussions about the importance of these strengths and how to apply them in their daily lives. In both of these weeks, a kindergartner and a fifth grader were working on the same character strength at the same time, in their own ways. We will continue with P2 throughout the year, as well as in upcoming years, and look forward to many more special moments.