A Norwood Public School teacher caught fourth-grader Keira Lewis picking up dropped pencils and helping her classmates with their math work. Another teacher caught second-grader Rory Neals cleaning up spilled water in the classroom.
“I saw they needed help, so I helped them,” Rory said as he recalled the day his kindness was rewarded with a trip to the school’s book-filled vending machine.
When Rory went to the new machine, he dispensed “The Bad Guys,” a book series about a group of animals who go on good deed quests to prove they’re the good guys. Keira selected “The Cool Bean,” a book about an uncool bean that reminds children it’s cool to be kind.
With the unveiling of its new book-dispensing vending machine, the school in Bergen County launched “Caught Being Kind,” an initiative aimed at recognizing and rewarding Norwood students for their random acts of kindness.
Every week Norwood teachers recognize students’ kind acts by rewarding them with a gold token they can use to choose an item from the vending machine. Instead of snacks or soft drinks, this machine is filled with books — with nearly 300 titles available.
The vending machine, which was unveiled in September, is helping to cultivate a culture of kindness and promote literacy at the school, according to Harold Abraham, principal of the Norwood Public School’s grades kindergarten to 4.
“It motivates me to be more kind,” said Keira when reflecting on a time she got caught being kind and it was announced on the school’s loudspeaker. “Sometimes they announce it and it makes me feel good and it makes me smile.”
When caught doing random acts of kindness, Norwood Public School students are rewarded with a certificate and a token that can be used for their school's book vending machine. Harold Abraham, Norwood Public School kindergarten to fourth grade principal, stands with a student who was caught doing a random act of kindness.
In addition to having their names announced over the PA system, students who are caught are given a certificate. Also, Abraham personally makes a phone call to the student’s home to share the news with their family.
“So often when administration calls home, the response is: ‘What did he do?’ ‘What did she do?’ ‘Are they in trouble?’ ‘Are they okay?,’” the principal said. “I think that mindset is starting to shift because parents are getting used to getting positive phone calls.”
So far, more than 100 students have been caught being kind, and the school administration plans to recognize 250 more by the end of the year.
The vending machine is placed at the front entrance of the school and is filled with colorful, diverse books gifted by the PTO and selected by the school’s educators, whom as Abraham said, have a great sense of what their students like.
Norwood Public School superintendent, Kevin Ulmer, was excited to green light the kindness program brought forth by the school’s administration.
When compiling the list of books for the vending machine, teachers made sure the selections would resonate and appeal to every student and their different backgrounds, said Norwood first-grade teacher Kerri Marano.
“Kids are really excited to go to the vending machine, come back with their books show the class, and it really just spreads this contagious act of kindness throughout all of Norwood,” Marano said.
The parent of two Norwood elementary students, Russell Makofsky, received a call from school administration about both his daughters’ acts of kindness, and said his children were excited when they were recognized.
Makofsky is also a chess game educator in the New York City public school district. A book that he’s featured in called, “My Name Is Tani … and I Believe in Miracles,” will soon be one of the vending machine’s newest editions.
It’s a true story written by Tani, an 8-year-old Nigerian refugee who became the number one chess player in New York after just one year of playing and being taught by Makofsky.
“My two daughters, they think their dad’s a superhero, because a book he’s in is going to be in the front of the school,” Makofsky said with a laugh.
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Nyah Marshall may be reached at NMarshall@njadvancemedia.com
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