GRACIOUS DEEDS POUR OUT OF HEARTS OF CAPE PRESCHOOLERS

"Little Drops of Water"

Little drops of water,

Little grains of sand,

Make the mighty ocean,

And the pleasant land.

Little deeds of kindness,

little words of love,

Help to make earth happy,

Like the heaven above.

Even though they are still children, students at the Christian School for the Young Years are thinking like adults. The preschool classes washed their principal's car, weeded the flower garden and picked up trash around the playground Wednesday morning as part of their Random Act of Kindness activities.

"Although, of course, most of our acts of kindness this week will be random, we have talked about special things we can do," said Gail Jones, a teacher in the pre-kindergarten department.

The act wasn't random, but the attention to detail probably was when a dozen 5-year-olds decided to wash principal Janet Goodin's car Wednesday morning. The group wanted to brighten Goodin's day and make her drive home a little happier inside a clean car.

Instead of waiting for the little drops of water they had read about in a poem, the students hosed off the car and used washcloths to clean it.

"She'll say, `This ain't mine' when she sees it," 5-year-old Niki said, after Goodin's car had been cleaned.

Other activities are secret so no one will know who performs the act, but the students did compile a list of possibilities. They include making someone a surprise and wrapping it in "present paper," writing someone's name on their paper for them if they don't know how, giving hugs to someone who is crying or "if your sister is hurt, help her stand up."

Earlier this week the class made an apron for Miss Jeni, the school cook. The apron was decorated in permanent markers and had every child's name listed on it. "We made it for her since she cooks for us and watches us in the afternoon," said Madison, another 5-year-old student.

And to help Jeni with her job, the class also took fruit roll-up snacks to the 2-year-old class. Parents even enjoyed a snack of brownies and doughnuts Wednesday morning.

Children in Sherri Roth's "orange room" class get to place a colored sticker next to their name on a class chart each time they do a kind act for a friend. The students are also taking cookies and paper flowers to the librarians at the Cape Girardeau Public Library this week.

The week started at the school with a story about "Warm Fuzzies." Then each child created a "fuzzy" from strands of yarns.