How some U.S. schools are teaching kindness classes

Red Wing, Minnesota — The U.S. spends hundreds of billions every year teaching children how to read, write and calculate. But what about kindness? Why isn’t that a subject in school? Well, in some places, it is.

Kindness 101 is a program that uses the stories CBS News finds in our “On the Road” series to teach kindness and character. The stories are paired with lesson plans created by a nonprofit at Iowa’s Drake University called “Character Counts!”

“So the idea that we could develop curricular resources around these stories that elevate the best of our country…and we’re going to do all this so that educators don’t have to pay to get them,” said Scott Raecker, executive director of Character Counts!

Some of the greatest joys of my job are the greetings I get whenever I surprise one of our Kindness 101 classrooms.

A visit to Neil Lahammer’s third grade class at Burnside Elementary School in Red Wing, Minnesota, would be the most joyful of all. Lahammer is one of more than 100,000 teachers who have used Kindness 101.

The lessons, which any teacher can access at Kindess101.com, are being used to inspire kindness and character in millions of children around the world.

“When I see the students duplicating what they’re seeing in the videos…and as a teacher, that’s gold,” responded Lahammer when asked how he knows the lessons are sinking in.

“Just makes me want to be a better person,” one student said of the lessons.

The good vibes are spreading largely thanks to the Kindness Club Lahammer started.

At least once a week, students give up their recess to do food drives, glove drives and promote kindness throughout the school.

“It’s just amazing the way these kids want to help out others,” Lahammer said.

Lahammer even teaches other teachers in his district how to best use the curriculum, all in an effort to create an army of kindness superheroes.

Lahammer was chosen as the first-ever Kindness 101 National Teacher of the Year. The award was presented in April at a gala in Des Moines, Iowa, and it will now become an annual tradition.

“He makes me smarter and he makes me happier,” another student told CBS News of Lahammer. “He’s my whole world.”