This boy's small gesture of kindness towards his classmates is having a big impact on adults across social media.

Amanda Cox praised the youngster's compassion on Facebook after she asked her students to share some of their school supplies with their classmates.

"Today I was running low on pencils so I asked all of my kids to pull out any of my pencils that they had in their desks," says Cox. "I had one student ask me if he could keep his pencils that his mom gave him for school.

"Of course, I said yes. He then said, ‘well, I guess I'll give you a few so my classmates can have them too.' I thought nothing of it and took the pencils that he handed me."

Cox quickly discovered that these weren't just ordinary pencils, however – as she was sharpening the writing utensils, she noticed that they all had writing on the side.

As it turns out, the boy's mother had written personal, individual messages of love and encouragement on every single pencil, saying things like "You are perfect" and "I am proud of you" and "This will be a great year."

"This probably took his mom a few minutes to do yet it lit up his whole day at school," says Cox. "He wasn't embarrassed that his mom wrote on his pencils. Thanks to his mom, he was reminded of his self worth and wanted to share the same feeling with his classmates."

Cox posted a photo of the pencils to Facebook where it was shared thousands of times by adults praising the boy and his mother for their compassion. Some have even taken it upon themselves to do something similar for their own students – because, in Cox's words, "imagine the look on a child's face when they are reminded that they are important, talented, loved, knowledgeable and so much more … This is why I teach."

Be Sure And Share This Sweet Story Of Kindness With Your Own Friends On Social Media – Photo by Amanda Cox