In Leaders UNITE two weeks ago, the students conducted an activity relating to the Leaders UNITE positivity movement, YAS (You are Special). In this activity, students learned that it is important for a leader to encourage his/her teammates, get to know his/her teammates’ strengths, and to make his/her teammates feel happy.

To emphasize this, we began Leaders UNITE with a discussion, where we introduced the students to the word “compliment.” I first explained what a compliment is. I then gave a few of the students compliments, and asked them how they felt afterwards. They all said that they felt very happy! This was another point we emphasized during our discussion- that saying something nice to someone can make them feel very happy.

After our discussion, we conducted an activity called Valentine’s Day YAS. In this activity, students had to select a partner and think of one thing they like about that person. They then had to exchange compliments with their partner, and make a Valentine’s Day card for their partner using the compliment they wrote down. I was very impressed with the students thinking of authentic compliments. They also did a great job with their Valentine’s Day cards for their partners. I even saw some of the students ask their partner, “Do you like this color?” or, “What kinds of pictures do you like?” when deciding what to put on the card for their partner.

It was so great to see all of the students smiling and happy when they received cards from their friends!

Today in Leaders UNITE, the students at International Preschool of Raleigh worked on many different skills: teamwork, thinking outside the box, and taking initiative. The students did an activity called The Newest App, where they had to work together to come up with a unique game that people could play on a phone or computer. We started this activity with the students listing some interesting ideas for a game. They came up with very creative things, such as a game where you have to spin the ballerina, a game with hot lava, a game like soccer, and more. Then, I tasked the students with working together to combine all of their ideas into one game. I saw huge growth in the students’ ability to combine ideas and compromise with their friends! The students (on their own!) came up with a game called Ballerina Sparkle Rainbow, where the person playing the game has to spin a ballerina who is holding a ball, and after spinning the ball, the ballerina would kick the ball. If the ballerina or the ball fall into the nearby hot lava, the player would lose the game. The students even took this a bit further by adding more details to their game. They came up with different racetracks/roads and balls to be included in their game. I was so proud of the students’ creativity and their ability to work together!

Following this, we did a discussion about leadership. I kept it simple, repeating the question that we have discussed throughout the school year, “What is a leader?” This time, I encouraged students to keep their answers brief and general, instead of focusing on specific scenarios. The students did a wonderful job, with each of them contributing unique ideas about what makes a leader. Their ideas were that a leader: is nice, loves others, helps people, shares, cares about others, takes the lead, helps people do stuff, listens to the teacher, is a role model, listens, and stands up for their friends. I think they really captured the general idea of leadership very well!