The months of November and December are "Peace and Friendship" months at school. We celebrate this in many ways--including making a Kindness Quilt with other classes. In my classroom we also have Super Secret Star Mail: anonymous little notes of kindness to classmates, slipped into a star shaped box with a slot in the lid.

It's a way of getting children to notice the kindness of their classmates--rather than focusing on tattling, which they are apt to do. And it's a way of building a strong classroom community. I encourage the students to write notes to people they're not already best friends with, to notice good things about kids they don't usually play with, and to 'catch' classmates at being kind and helpful.

Every morning we sit in a circle and greet each other. Then I open the Super Secret Star Mailbox and pass out the little scraps of paper that have accumulated there throughout the previous day. "I liked it when you played with me at recess," one little note read, while another simply said, "You are a good friend." Still other notes say things like, "You are a really good reader!" or, "Yay! You published your book today!" or even, "I think your snack looked yummy."

Each note gives the children a chance to give and receive complements. To notice and feel noticed. To be kind, and to honor kindness in others. And the kids love doing it. Every day the box is brimming with notes, and each day Super Secret Star mail makes me smile.