Pencils crept across the paper as Rebecca Donofrio’s students slowly sounded out their New Year’s resolutions and wrote sentences paired with illustrations. The new year brought a new vocabulary word to Pequenakonck Elementary School’s kindergarten class.

“A resolution is a promise to yourself to help others,” said Sloane. “I will teach people gymnastics, like the handstand, back flip, and head-to-toe flip.”

“I will make seven more friends this year by being nice,” said Tabby.

One student, Mico, said that he found it hard to pick only one of his skills to share, and many of his classmates agreed. Eventually Mico and his classmate Sienna chose to help their siblings clean up at home, while other students focused on sharing their interests, like building LEGO sets or robots.

“We do it because we want to help people,” said Vivien, who is committed to sharing her love of coloring with her younger brother.

“How does it make you feel when you can help someone else to get better at something?” said Donofrio. Her students responded with calls of “Happy!” and “Good!” and filled the classroom with big smiles and thumbs up.