Program Overview
We are so excited that you are here and getting ready to showcase your class’ ideas around Choosing Kindness!
Our website is a place that showcases students’ ideas around kindness, a gallery if you will.
Here are some ideas around how to lead this conversation and lesson with your students, make them your own, and have fun!
C4C Choose Kindness Project
Discuss with your class the idea of choice, and that we each have many choices that we make every single day. Share that one choice we each must make everyday, is: do we want to be kind? What does it look like to be kind?
It’s a great idea to use a related text to support this in your mini lesson as well, we have always loved: Lyle, Lyle Crocodile, Chrysanthemum, Leo the Late Bloomer and A Chair for my Mother.
Open this up to a brainstorm session on chart paper or SMART board, to make a class list of ways to be kind. Write down ALL of the ideas your students come up with. Read through them. If you teach K-1, pictures are great too!
Share with students the ‘Choose Kindness’ writing paper and space for illustration. Review with students what types of ideas they can be writing about from the class list.
Ask for questions and welcome students to go back to their seats to work on their ideas!
Have a student share time where everyone can share their Choose Kindness poster.
Upload all of your student work to our gallery where it will live forever and can be shared with their family and friends!
We can’t wait to see what your class comes up with! #kindnessmatters #choosekindness
Board of Directors
- Kailtin RoigFounder, Executive Director
Kaitlin founded Classes 4 Classes knowing that positive social change was needed, and that this needed to begin with the youngest members of our society, our K-8 students. Classes 4 Classes is for every student in the United States to learn: compassion, caring, kindness, empathy, consideration, through active engagement. These are lessons that every child needs to have.
Full BioContact - Alix PurcellChair
Alix Morrow has over a decade of experience in marketing, public relations and advertising for both corporate and non-profit organizations in New York and Chicago. Her design and writing skills are well honed through years of experience in business to business and business to consumer marketing and communications, including branding, digital marketing, direct marketing, social media planning, ad planning, speechwriting, and web layout and content creation.
Full BioContact - Ryan Sheppard, CPA, CFFAdvisor
Mr. Sheppard is a Partner with Rolleri & Sheppard CPAS, LLP. He specializes in nonprofit tax, accounting, audit and formation, corporate and individual taxation and business consulting. Mr. Sheppard consults on a wide range of tax and accounting related issues including corporate formation, divorce, mergers and acquisitions, and foreign taxation.
Full BioContact - Kathy Schultz, MA EDSecretary
Kathy has over two decades of experience in education. She has worked for the Darien Public Schools for the last 17 years, as a classroom teacher, math specialist, and currently an administrator. Prior to working in Connecticut, Kathy taught at the University of Missouri-Columbia Lab School. She has presented at numerous workshops throughout Connecticut, and has also work with the National Board Certification program for teachers.
Full BioContact - Seth L. CooperTreasurer
Seth L. Cooper is a business and real estate attorney with the law firm Brody Wilkinson PC in Southport, Connecticut and is a principal of the firm. His areas of practice include commercial and residential real estate, lending, loan workouts, leasing, hospitality service contracts, business entity organizational matters, business purchases and sales, art law, general contract law, and debtor-creditor rights. In addition, Mr. Cooper also leads the firm’s Art, Antiques & Collectibles practice. Mr. Cooper is a Martindale-Hubbell AV-rated attorney.
Full BioContact - Thomas A. Ahern, MADirector
Thomas A. Ahern, MA, is a former School Psychologist and CT Public School Administrator. Mr. Ahern has served in leadership positions in education and behavioral healthcare for most of his 25 year professional career including Clinician, Director of Partial Hospitals, Adult Education Director and Mr. Ahern has long been an advocate for new models in behavioral healthcare services for students founding several innovative programs that integrate resources from the public and private sectors to improve services to patients. He also founded several human service programs and given regional, state and national presentations on a multitude of challenging issues facing families and youth.
Full BioContact - Mark ColemanDirector
Mark Coleman is a digital marketing professional with over 20 years of experience in helping companies improve their digital marketing programs through email marketing, social media, web design & development, search engine marketing, online advertising and the use of mobile to promote brands and engage with customers.
Full BioContact - Sara Mathews DixonDirector
Sara Mathews Dixon, MSW, LCSW is an experienced psychotherapist and owner of SMD Associates, LLC, providing treatment to young adults, individuals, couples and families. She has 16 years of experience in different sectors of the behavioral health field, giving her a rich and comprehensive understanding of the issues that people are faced with in today’s world.
Full BioContact - Rebecca Lepage, MDDirector
Dr. Rebecca LePage practiced primary care pediatrics for 7 years in Darien, CT. Currently, Rebecca is the co-founder of PEACH Advisors, LLC. Created with a former colleague, PEACH merges Rebecca’s passions for both education and health care. With her business partner, Rebecca acts as a consultant aiming to improve health policy implementation and delivery in schools and childcare facilities via formalized, written, up-to-date and evidence-based policy, and professional education and development.
Full BioContact - Stefani S. PalettaDirector
Steffani Paletta is currently a Sr. Recruiter who has recently joined TIAA (Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association) to focus on Executive Recruitment in the New York City office. Prior to TIAA, Steffani led Americas Lateral Investment Banking hiring at UBS, where she executed senior searches, advised candidates and hiring managers, and presented market trends and recruitment initiatives across Wall Street to senior leadership.
Full BioContact - Maud Purcell, MSW, LCSW, CEAPAdvisor
Maud Purcell, MSW, LCSW, CEAP is the Founder and Executive Director of The Life Solution Center of Darien, and one-of-a-kind consortium of independent businesses and practices designed to treat the whole person. Maud is a skilled and seasoned Psychotherapist with a short-term, solution-focused approach. She recognizes that most dilemmas have straightforward, common-sense solutions and weaves a unique blend of warmth and humor into her work. She works extensively with adults, couples and teens.
Full BioContact