NSIS classrooms recognized as “Certified Kind”
“Kindness is contagious!” “Choose kind!” “Be the kind kid!”
These are just a few of the mottos that echo throughout the classrooms of Mr. Sharpnack, Mrs. Snyder, and Mrs. Kramer at North Strabane Intermediate School. Living by these words is why these classrooms and students have been globally recognized as “Certified Kind Classrooms.”
Since the 2015-2016 school year, Random House Children’s Books, the publishing company behind the book “Wonder,” sends out a challenge to teachers and schools around the world. Teachers label an incentive jar with an official “Certified Kind” label. Students are challenged to complete kind deeds to fill the jar with marbles. One kind deed equates to one marble. When the container is filled with kindness, a photograph is taken of the jar and submitted for approval.
Mr. Sharpnack and Mrs. Snyder began this challenge with their fifth-grade students in its inaugural year and continued it together through the 2018-2019 school year. For those four years, students in their classes were recognized for their kindness with “Certified Kind Classroom” banners and listed on the official “Certified Kind Registry.” When Mr. Sharpnack began teaching sixth grade during the 2019-2020 school year, he took the challenge with him. Again, kindness was a focal point, and his students earned this recognition. Mrs. Kramer, Mrs. Snyder, and their students achieved this honor in their fifth-grade classrooms during the school year. In addition to these teachers, many more at North Strabane Intermediate and throughout the district also participate in kindness activities with students.
You can see the banners proudly displayed in their classrooms at North Strabane Intermediate School. Even though 2020 has been anything but ordinary, Mr. Sharpnack, Mrs. Snyder and Mrs. Kramer are again teaching the importance of kindness to their students this school year. The banners are a nice touch to their classrooms. But, if you ask these teachers, the impacts of their students’ kindness are what truly matter and make a difference in the world.