2/17/2027

Morning Announcements

Morning Meeting Agenda

Mon · Social Studies Tue · Literacy Wed · Science Thu · Math Fri · ROAR + Houses
Today is RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS DAY — Kindness Week continues!
Science · Random Acts of Kindness Day

Kindness is measurable

Being kind isn’t just a nice idea — scientists can actually measure what happens in your brain when you help someone. And the results are surprising.

Portrait of Dr. Mae Jemison Photo credit: [add if license requires]

Meet Dr. Mae Jemison! She was a doctor who traveled far away to help people who were sick. Then she became an astronaut and flew into space! She used science to be kind to people.

Here’s something amazing scientists discovered: when you’re kind to someone, THREE good things happen!

Three things that happen when you are kind: you feel good, they feel good, and others copy it
Let’s talk
  • How does your body feel when you help somebody? Warm? Happy? Proud?
  • Have you ever seen someone be kind and then wanted to be kind too?
  • What kind thing will YOU do today? It’s Random Acts of Kindness Day!
Reveal the scienceHide the science
Your brain makes a happy chemical when you’re kind — the same one it makes when something good happens to YOU! That warm feeling is real science.
Try it

Random Act of Kindness — RIGHT NOW! Look around and find one person you can help or compliment. Do it before you leave this room. Then notice how your body feels!

Mystery scientist: Entered Stanford at age 16. Earned degrees in chemical engineering and African American studies, then a medical degree. Worked in a refugee camp in Thailand and served as a Peace Corps physician in Sierra Leone and Liberia — before doing something no Black woman had ever done.

Who is she?Hide
Portrait of Dr. Mae Jemison Photo credit: [add if license requires]
Dr. Mae Jemison — on September 12, 1992, aboard the shuttle Endeavour, she became the first Black woman in space. She speaks four languages. She once said, “Sometimes people want to limit you because of their own limited imaginations.”

Now the science. Researchers can watch what happens in the brain during acts of kindness — and the reward centers light up in the giver, not just the receiver.

One act, three measurable effects: the giver, the receiver, and the witness
Let’s talk
  • Remember the exponential growth we studied last month? If witnessing kindness spreads it, what shape would a graph of kindness look like?
  • Jemison was a doctor treating patients before she was an astronaut. Is science itself a form of kindness? Defend your answer.
  • “Sometimes people want to limit you because of their own limited imaginations.” What’s the difference between someone doubting your ability and someone lacking imagination?
Reveal the answersHide the answers
If every witness becomes more likely to act kindly, kindness spreads on the same doubling curve we studied — slow at first, then everywhere. Same math as germs, opposite effect. Science as kindness is a real argument: Jemison’s medical work directly reduced suffering, and Carver, Bath, and Drew did the same in their fields — the tool is knowledge, the purpose is people. And Jemison’s line is precise: doubting your ability is a claim about you, but a limited imagination is a limitation in them. She’s saying: their ceiling isn’t your ceiling.
Try it

Run the experiment! Today, do one deliberate act of kindness where somebody else can see it — and one where nobody sees it at all. Tonight, ask yourself honestly: did they feel different? What does your answer tell you about your own motivations?

Additional Notes/Activities

If additional activities are needed for the Morning Meeting, they will be added here.