Kindness is a part of daily life at Mandalay Elementary School in the Wantagh School District. To celebrate National Compliment Day on Jan. 24, students learned a meaningful way they can be kind to one another.

School counselor Donna Shulman and psychologist Maria Maleganos visited classrooms to discuss the importance of giving compliments. They said that it is a way to show appreciation to people and spread joy. Good compliments, they added, are true, positive and specific. 

Students were asked to write down a compliment they recently received and reflect on how it made them feel. Ms. Shulman and Ms. Maleganos also noted that giving a compliment should feel as good as receiving one.

To put their knowledge into practice, students wrote compliments to each other. In third grade classes, teachers assigned each student a peer to send a kind message. They made “compli-mittens” – a paper craft of two mittens holding a heart. After brainstorming possible compliments, each student then selected one to write on the heart and share with his or her classmate.