Dear County and District Superintendents, Charter School Administrators, and School Principals:

The Great Kindness Challenge Week: January 27–31, 2025

The California Department of Education, in partnership with The Great Kindness Challenge (GKC), encourages California’s school communities to participate in the GKC Week, January 27–31, 2025. The theme for the 14th Annual GKC Week is Kindness Moves.

As State Superintendent of Public Instruction, I am committed to sharing resources that can assist you in helping our students build empathy, feel supported, and thrive, and the GKC is one of these. The GKC is a global campaign that promotes kindness, social–emotional health, and bullying prevention in prekindergarten through grade twelve. I have personally witnessed this impactful program and have seen what a difference it makes. The GKC provides many free resources to support students and educators, two of which are highlighted below.

• The GKC Customizable Checklists and Toolkit for use during the GKC week, January 27–31, 2025
  • During this powerful, unifying, and uplifting week, students are challenged to complete as many acts of kindness as possible using the customizable checklist. The GKC also creates a continuum of kindness by offering home connections through a family edition of the checklist. For access to the GKC customizable checklists and toolkit, sign up to participate on the GKC website at https://thegreatkindnesschallenge.com/signupform.
    
    
• The GKC Classroom Curriculum for use year-round
  • This weekly kindness program for grades one through eight features a classroom kindness checklist, where each act corresponds with an engaging kindness lesson. The lessons are designed to support social–emotional learning and provide opportunities not only for interaction and reflection but also for fun! Lessons include kindness quotes, interesting facts, physical energizers, and activities to improve students’ well-being and to inspire them to extend kindness out to the world! Learn more by visiting the GKC web page at https://thegreatkindnesschallenge.com/.

Thank you to all who participated in the GKC last year. Over 4.2 million California students participated, representing 7,641 schools across 68 school districts, sharing over 210 million acts of kindness. Your efforts to nurture the transformative power of kindness among our students and school community are inspirational.

It’s never too late to be a part of this movement. The 2025 GKC week, January 27–31, is an excellent time to kick off kindness efforts that can continue through the end of the school year.

Participation in the GKC week is free, and with your registration you receive the GKC resources, including access to the GKC customizable checklists, toolkit, and classroom curriculum. Schools that register and participate will become a Kindness Certified School and receive a GKC certificate to proudly display at their schools. In closing, I extend my sincerest gratitude to school staff statewide for the work that you are doing to build a kinder, more inclusive future.

Sincerely,

Tony Thurmond
State Superintendent of Public Instruction

TT:dr