Churchill School through one of his fun exercises.
The show focused on kindness and compassion.
(Marilyn Thomas/H-F Chronicle)
There was lots of clapping and laughter when the third, fourth and fifth graders at Churchill School got a special pep talk on kindness, cooperation, compassion and character from funny man Tim Hannig of Pro-Kids Show.
Using magic tricks, songs and his puppet friend, Hannig presented basic messages of People Respecting Others (PRO). This was Hannig’s second visit to the Homewood school. He also did an evening presentation for families at James Hart School.
The Churchill show on Thursday, Jan. 9, was a special treat for students as they started the second semester of the school year, and a great way to reinforce the school’s kindness challenge program, said Marykay Gardiner, assistant principal.
The kindness challenge has students work in teams trying to build a fictitious house with character traits — courage, citizenship, optimism, respect, integrity, strength, friends, determination and kindness. Students win points for their house through acts of kindness.
Hannig got the 50-minute show rolling with a “cooperation examination.” He asked students to follow his lead and clap at appropriate times, but many jumped ahead leading to a gym full of giggling kids.
With help, he got the room all in sync to his rhythms. His take-away message was “I cooperate,” which he had students repeat.
Then he pulled out his phone, he calls up his playlist and the kids start to sing along with their favorite songs. Hannig pointed to the playlist he’d made and asked the kids to make their own playlist — a character playlist.
“Those songs you just heard … what ever is on the inside of my phone comes out. Well, we have a playlist inside,” he told them. “It’s called character and it comes out when people push our buttons. Maybe we get upset about something. What comes out? We have to make sure we have the right things on the inside so we know what to say, what to do, how to act.”
Using a story about an injured man left by a roadside, Hannig told of several people who walked past and decided the injured man was too different from them to offer assistance. Finally, someone stopped to help. Hannig’s focus was generosity and compassion. He reminded students of Martin Luther King Jr.’s message of judging others “not by the color of your skin but the content of your character.”
“People are equal,” he said and had the 640 students repeat.
“Even if someone else isn’t doing it; even if no one’s watching, you’re working on your playlist,” Hannig said. That includes: “I care, I show respect, I’m responsible here at school every day.”