Hopefully my initial Kindness Cafe post has lead you here. As you know, this project was such a success and I can’t wait to do it all again next year! But it required a lot of planning and prep. I thought I would save you a TON of time by sharing our journey as we worked through this project. So, here we go!
Introducing and Brainstorming
I had a feeling this was going to be such a great experience for my class, but only if they were personally invested. So, I addressed them as a Kind Kids Club and allowed them to come up with the idea themselves. First, I shared some information about Blake:
Isn’t she amazing?! After this, they were PUMPED to help! So I posed this simple question: How can we help?
Preparing for the big day
Sharing with families:
At this point the class was SOLD on this idea and reading to start ASAP! It was time to inform the parents and get their support from home. We also needed to share about our project with other classes and staff in the building so they could come “dine” at our cafe. Here are some sample letters we sent out:
Again, in order for this experience to have the most impact, it needed to be completely student led. This means I had to go against my nature and relinquish control to my class. Eek!! Of course, I do teach 2nd grade so I had to give plenty of structure and support whenever needed.
Each student had 2 jobs during this unit. This first was a “Cafe Prep Job”. These were jobs that needed to be done in order to prepare for the cafe. This was a great opportunity to talk about student strengths and how to choose the best job for yourself. The jobs basically fell into two categories: artistic/creative jobs and advertisement jobs. We talked about the importance of both of these types of jobs for real businesses. We looked at business logos, commercials, placemats and menus. It also led perfectly into a discussion about how every one of these has an author with the purpose of persuading you to buy their product. They then stepped into that role and tried it out themselves!
The second job was a “Cafe Job”. These were jobs for the day of the cafe. Again, we were able to talk about student strengths and choosing the best job. We talked about personality types. For example, if you’re more quiet and enjoy conversing with only close friends you might not choose the “management” position. If you enjoy keeping things organized and are energetic, you might enjoy being a table busser or food prep employee.
After introducing each job, students filled out an application. It was so interesting to see how these little 2nd graders took this part seriously. There were FOR REAL applying for jobs. Plus, they really knew themselves – strengths and weaknesses. The jobs they chose were often so well matched to their personalities!
Now that we were all organized, it was time for the real work to begin! I can’t wait to share how the next phase of our Cafe went in my next post!