Westside Community Schools recently held an all-day retreat for 4th graders.
The students from Loveland, Rockbrook and Swanson Elementary Schools came together at Westside High School for a Kindness Retreat. It was the second year for the event.
Youth Frontiers Group which hosts retreats for schools facilitated the activities. The students put on skits, met in small groups and shared ideas with the group about how they can be kind to others and stand up for kids who may be bullied or treated unfairly. The cheerleaders at Westside High School helped lead the small group discussions.
Rockbrook Elementary School Principal Garret Higginbotham says the lessons learned on this day serve as a foundation for the rest of their learning, "we know how crucial it is for students to get instruction about social emotional skills because that's what then allows them to get that focus on math and reading."
We talked to a couple of the 4th graders about what they learned. Leilani Gustafson explained what she would say if someone was being unkind to another student, "just don't mind them, you're okay the way you are, you're not the way they said, you're perfect."
Paige Smith summed up what she learned, "it's not right to treat others unfairly and you should always be kind if someone is having a rough day, you should cheer them up and always be by their side."
