NJ school’s book vending machine rewards kids for kindness

School can often be a stressful place, especially in the holiday season when assignments are building and studying for tests gets more intense.

A public school in Norwood has come up with the perfect way for kindness to remain a priority in the school building even on the most stressful of days.

So Norwood Elementary School has obtained a unique vending machine full of colorful and diverse books gifted by the PTO that students have the opportunity to win.

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It’s part of their “Caught Being Kind,” initiative, which helps to recognize students performing acts of kindness and then rewarding them with a gold coin which they can use at the vending machine.

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The vending machine has over 300 book titles to choose from and is a much more rewarding kind of experience than getting a little bag of candy for being kind.

Elementary school students are still newer readers and the opportunity to pick a new fun book has been motivating students to continue being kind.

When students are found doing random acts of kindness there is often an announcement on the loudspeaker which makes them feel even more special and recognized.

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This also helps create more of a positive stigma around loudspeaker announcements as usually children's names are called if they are in trouble. (I am sure we can all remember a classmate's name being called in grade school because they were in trouble. ..or was that you?)

Over 100 students have been recognized so far and have the chance to pick a book and the school hopes to recognize 250 more throughout the year.

With so many topics and stories to choose from, the vending machine has truly made going to school a fun experience as children are thinking about more ways to be kind and get noticed.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Judi Franco only.

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