Kindness Tree Sprouts at Fisher

Fisher students are growing their own sort of foliage in the hallways. It comes in the form of a Kindness Tree. 

The idea took seed last year when Tausha Caldarella, Fisher counselor, discussed with students what they felt would help make the school more inviting for learning. She says more than a few fifth-grade students said the students needed to practice more kindness, being mindful of the words they were using. 

In response, Fisher now has a Kindness Tree fully in artificial bloom. Located in a prominent hallway wall location, the paper tree serves as a constant symbol of “loaning someone your strength instead of reminding them of their weakness,” Caldarella says. The tree features leaves of kindness and apples of love and kindness, created by every student and staff at Fisher. 

Students in grades one through five and staff wrote words or phrases, while the younger students put their thumb prints on apples. 

“The tree is positioned at the highest volume traffic area in our school so that as students walk into school and head to class or to specialists upstairs, they see all the kindness shared and can gain strength and encouragement from seeing all the words on those especially hard days,” Caldarella says. 

Statements can range from a simple “Hi” to “You are loved” to “You got this.” 

Students received a lesson on respect and kindness before working on the tree to help them understand the importance of their words and actions and how they impact others. 

“At Fisher, we want to build a community of learners that use their words to build others up and help others become the best version of themselves,” Caldarella says. “Fisher students were excited to create this tree and even more excited that the idea was crafted from former fifth-grade students. Every class agreed that we needed to work on being more kind in our words and actions.”