Manchester Elementary School took part in a Great Kindness Week Challenge.

They created a 50-item list of kind acts to do and even challenged the South Kitsap School Board to join in the effort.

“There’s a good feel to it, looking for opportunities to do something nice,” Julie Lee said. Lee teaches at Manchester Elementary, and her sixth-grade class challenged SKSD Superintendent Michelle Reid.

“I think the class talked about how excited they were to take on the project,” Reid said.

“Certainly the teachers and students involved were excited about the project. We want to recognize the behavior, and nurture and build that community.”

Some of the acts of kindness Lee’s class completed included bringing band-aids to the nurse’s station, giving cards to the office workers and making a signed poster for the lunch ladies, letting them know how much they are valued.

Lee read a book to her class that encompassed the theme of the week’s challenge called “How Full is your Bucket?” In the book, a boy is not being nice to his sister. But every time he was nice to her, he noticed a drop fell into a bucket that hovered over her head.

“It helps others to be nicer,” Cami, a student in Lee’s class, explained. “We all have buckets in the back of the room, and when you say something kind, it goes in the bucket.”

This visual explicitly showcases how being nice can affect others. “The point is to do something nice, and it fills your bucket, too,” Lee said.

Lee’s class accomplished 442 acts of kindness during the week that also doubled as a spirit week for the school.

“We’re really proud, and it felt good,” Lee said.

The students in her class all felt similar about what they were able to do during the week.

“It’s nice to be kind because if no one in our generation is kind, then when we’re adults, there will be no kindness in the world,” Isaiah, another student in Lee’s class, said.

Reid agreed, saying how important it is to teach today’s youth to build on the habit of treating others well.

“I think it’s so important to focus on the right things we want kids to do,” Reid said.

“To teach the things we want kids to learn rather than punish them for the wrong things.”

Although Reid said the school district is still working on checking off their list, she said the kids inspired them to focus on kind acts.

“It’s fair to say we’re working through it and focusing on it,” she said. “Again, it builds community in a positive way. It’s really important.”

Lee said kindness is an important lesson to teach her students and how that simple act will lead to success later in life.

“If you live with that idea, it makes the days more positive and productive,” Lee said.