BECOME A
certified
CLASSROOM!
© 2013, 2016 R. J. Palacio and Random House Children’s Books
R. J. Palacio’s Wonder has spread kindness in classrooms
and communities across the country and inspired the
Choose Kind anti-bullying initiative.
THE CERTIFIED KIND CLASSROOM CHALLENGE
is a fun way to instill the spirit of Wonder into your classroom
and at home, by promoting, recognizing, and celebrating
acts of kindness among peers throughout the school year.
#choosekind
HERE IS HOW YOUR CLASSROOM CAN BECOME
certified
• Label an incentive jar with an official Certified Kind label. This can
be a physical jar, or an outline created online or in a document for
distance learning.
• Challenge students to do kind deeds in order to fill the jar with
marbles (1 kind deed = 1 marble).
• When the jar is full, celebrate with your class! Discuss the importance
of kindness while reading Wonder and encourage students to always
fill jars of kindness.
• Share pictures and anecdotes about your classroom’s progress on
social media using #choosekind. Tag us on Twitter at @RHCBEducators!
Please make sure that any people in your pictures are 18 or older.
© 2013, 2016 R. J. Palacio and Random House Children’s Books
Best Practices
When it comes to classroom management, only you know what works
best for your students. Here are a few easily modifiable ideas for
incorporating the Certified Kind Challenge into your classroom.
ONE-SIZE JAR DOES NOT FIT ALL
If you teach one group of students for the entire school day, we
recommend using a larger mason jar (or any similar-sized container)
to capture the kindness in your classroom (an 800-mL jar = about 250
marbles). If you specialize in one subject and teach multiple groups
of students, we recommend using smaller mason jars and designating
one jar per class (a 400-mL jar = about 100 marbles).
BLUE MARBLES, OR NOT
We love the visual of filling the incentive jar with blue marbles in the
spirit of the book’s iconic cover, but teachers are some of the most
resourceful people we know! If you don’t have marbles, here are some
other suggestions: craft pom-poms, gumballs or other marble-sized
candies, stones, or seashells.
DIGITAL
If your school or classroom is digital, consider
creating a Wonder-themed document to fill
with a chosen measurement.
© 2013, 2016 R. J. Palacio and Random House Children’s Books
KIND VISUALS
To help promote acts of kindness in your classroom, we suggest
setting up a visual aid. Whether it be a simple poster, a section of
whiteboard, or an entire bulletin board, here are some suggestions
for your classroom visuals:
•M
odify your own list of classroom expectations to include potential
acts of kindness, such as returning a seat partner’s books.
•F
acilitate a classwide brainstorm of how to fill your incentive jar
and ideas for the visual aid.
•K
eep a running list of kind acts as they occur in your classroom,
and continue to add to your visual as you fill the incentive jar.
• Spread kindness: Invite other classes and staff to check out your
kindness progress and visuals, and encourage the entire school
to get involved.
• If you’re engaging in distance learning, encourage daily or weekly
moments of kindness, and invite students to share their ideas to
spread kindness at home.
KIND-DEED PROTOCOL
Establish a clear procedure for tracking kind deeds in your classroom.
Here are some options to consider:
• Kind deeds can be reported at any time directly to the teacher.
•K
ind deeds should be submitted at the end of each day/class period.
• Appoint a student to be the Kind-Deed Ambassador as a classroom
job, and have them be in charge of tracking kind deeds.
• Instruct students to keep a running list of all kind deeds, and set
aside some class time once a week to do shout-outs and celebrate
each week of kindness.
© 2013, 2016 R. J. Palacio and Random House Children’s Books
“When given the choice between
being right or being kind, choose kind.”
—Dr. Wayne W. Dyer
SHARE THE WORLD OF
WITH YOUR STUDENTS
© 2013, 2016 R. J. Palacio and Random House Children’s Books
HC: 978-0-375-86902-0
GLB: 978-0-375-96902-7 PB: 978-0-593-48778-5
HC: 978-0-525-64553-5
EL: 978-0-375-89988-1 GLB: 978-0-525-64554-2
EL: 978-0-525-64555-9
PB: 978-0-399-55918-1 HC: 978-1-101-93485-2
HC: 978-0-553-49904-9 GLB: 978-1-101-93486-9 HC: 978-1-5297-6649-8
GLB: 978-0-553-49905-6 EL: 978-0-525-64424-8 GLB: 978-1-5247-6650-4
EL: 978-1-5247-6651-1
EL: 978-0-553-50903-8
We’d love to see your CERTIFIED KIND CLASSROOM!
Follow us on Twitter and on Facebook
and share your kindness!
@RHCBEducator TheRandomSchoolHouse
Random House Children’s Books | School and Library Marketing | 1745 Broadway, 9-1 | New York, NY 10019
BECOME A
certified CLASSROOM
Print out the labels and use on your incentive jars.
Start a jar for each class you teach!
If your class is digital and you do not have a physical jar, paste the
image to a document in which you mark with each good deed!
© 2013, 2016 R. J. Palacio and Random House Children’s Books
© 2013, 2016 R. J. Palacio and Random House Children’s Books
FILL THIS JAR WITH KINDNESS. FILL THIS JAR WITH KINDNESS.
Teacher Name or Class Period Teacher Name or Class Period
© 2013, 2016 R. J. Palacio and Random House Children’s Books
© 2013, 2016 R. J. Palacio and Random House Children’s Books
FILL THIS JAR WITH KINDNESS. FILL THIS JAR WITH KINDNESS.
Teacher Name or Class Period Teacher Name or Class Period
© 2013, 2016 R. J. Palacio and Random House Children’s Books
© 2013, 2016 R. J. Palacio and Random House Children’s Books
FILL THIS JAR WITH KINDNESS. FILL THIS JAR WITH KINDNESS.
Teacher Name or Class Period Teacher Name or Class Period
Auggie head art © 2015 by R. J. Palacio; other art by Vaughn Fender
