POCATELLO — Students at Washington Elementary School have learned that a little kindness can go a long way — all the way around the schoolyard, in fact.

On Friday, kids at the school wrote their most recent acts of kindness onto thin colored pieces of paper, linked them together and secured the chain to the fence surrounding their school near downtown Pocatello.

“It goes along with our school motto to be nice and be kind,” said Washington Elementary assistant principal Angela Stevens.

Tragedies at other schools, including the recent massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, also prompted the activity, Stevens said. Flooding schools with kindness is one small way to combat further acts of violence, Stevens believes.

Students calculated the number of kind acts needed to span the perimeter of the fence. In the end, roughly 5,300 kind acts made up the chain.

“I smiled at someone who looked sad,” wrote one student.

“I helped someone up after they fell,” wrote another.

Fourth grader Sage Rhine said the activity granted him with some fresh air.

“I still like doing nice things, too,” Rhine said.

Fellow fourth grader Jenna Scott said she was surprised by the number of students doing nice things as a result of the activity.

“Kindness spreads,” Scott said.