There is something I say to my 4 year old son Daniel each morning before I leave him at preschool for the day: "Remember to be kind and respectful." We've talked a lot about what that means- what kindness and respect looks, sounds, and feels like.
Last week, Daniel's class went on a field trip to the airport and they were able to tour an airplane. He came home reporting everything from meeting the pilot to seeing the airplane kitchen. And then he asked for his crayons and drawing pad and said, "My friend Haruki really loves airplanes. He was so excited when we were on the plane, but when we had to go, he cried because he thought that we were actually going to get to fly. Mommy, I'm going to draw Haruki a picture of an airplane and give it to him tomorrow to help make him feel better."
That was a proud Mommy moment for me. It hands down beat the day he came home and counted to 100 for the first time, or the time he finally held his pencil correctly and wrote his name with a capital D and lowercase a,n,i,e,l.
Evidence of kindness, compassion, empathy... those are the things that fill my heart and leave me the most hopeful. One of the things I love about teaching are the many opportunities your students have each day to practice kindness and empathy with one another. Here are a couple of amazing resources from one of my favorite education sites, Edutopia. Please check them out!:
Resources for Learning About Empathy on Valentine's Day
Teaching Empathy: Turning a Lesson Plan into a Life Skill
Last week, Daniel's class went on a field trip to the airport and they were able to tour an airplane. He came home reporting everything from meeting the pilot to seeing the airplane kitchen. And then he asked for his crayons and drawing pad and said, "My friend Haruki really loves airplanes. He was so excited when we were on the plane, but when we had to go, he cried because he thought that we were actually going to get to fly. Mommy, I'm going to draw Haruki a picture of an airplane and give it to him tomorrow to help make him feel better."
That was a proud Mommy moment for me. It hands down beat the day he came home and counted to 100 for the first time, or the time he finally held his pencil correctly and wrote his name with a capital D and lowercase a,n,i,e,l.
Evidence of kindness, compassion, empathy... those are the things that fill my heart and leave me the most hopeful. One of the things I love about teaching are the many opportunities your students have each day to practice kindness and empathy with one another. Here are a couple of amazing resources from one of my favorite education sites, Edutopia. Please check them out!:
Resources for Learning About Empathy on Valentine's Day
Teaching Empathy: Turning a Lesson Plan into a Life Skill