Welcome to Weekly Reset #7

Published 15 days ago • 1 min read

Weekly Classroom Reset

Week 7: Using Kindness to Ground February

By the time February starts, classrooms usually feel different.

Students aren’t misbehaving.
Routines haven’t disappeared.
But energy is higher, patience is thinner, and it takes longer for the room to settle.

If you’re noticing that shift, you’re not doing anything wrong.
This happens every year.

Early February is when students need support that calms, not corrects.

This week’s classroom reset question:
What helps my class slow down without stopping learning?

For me, that’s where kindness work fits in.
Not as a theme.
Not as a party activity.
As a structure.

Kindness work is most effective when it’s quiet, predictable, and familiar. When students don’t have to learn something new, they can focus on thinking instead of managing excitement.

That’s why I use my Kindness Coloring Book during this stretch of the year.

It’s low prep, print-and-go, and designed to:

Settle Valentine's week energy without shutting it down
Build emotional regulation into the day naturally
Reinforce kindness, empathy, and classroom community
Give students a calm entry point into February learning

This is not busy work for your students.
It’s a regulation tool that works quietly in the background while you keep teaching.

Once your classroom feels steady again, everything else flows better.

That’s when February learning can really land.

If you’re moving into Black History Month lessons, kindness and reflection create the foundation students need to engage with those conversations thoughtfully and respectfully. Structure first. Meaning next.

GRAB THE KINDNESS COLORING BOOK HERE

One small action to try tomorrow:
Add one kindness-based activity to a part of the day that already exists.
Morning work.
After lunch.
End of day.

If you want to keep the conversation going, you can find me on Instagram at @talesofpattypepper, where I share classroom rhythms, practical systems, and real-life teacher moments.

More ideas and reflections live on this week's blog post at talesofpattypepper.com/blog

I’ll meet you back here next week!
Patty

P.S. Kindness work helps students regulate, and it helps you keep the structure you’ve already built.

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