TL;DR:
- Kindness is a big focus in our classrooms this year.
- Make sure to teach children to be kind to themselves too.
- This post shares picture books you can use with your students to teach social-emotional skills.
The Year of Kindness
Kindness has been a big focus in my class this year. We focus on kindness every year, but this year has challenged me to take things up a notch. I aspire to be like Laurie McIntosh and all her kindness adventures. If you don’t already follow her you really must.
We have been focusing on building empathy, recognizing when kindness has been shown to us, offering kindness to others, and communicating to share feelings. We have also been working on developing our understanding that everyone has different gifts and abilities.
Kindness Toward Self
I have also made a conscious effort to talk to my students about being kind to themselves. Positive self-talk is already a part of the program my school uses to teach social-emotional skills. With so much going on in the world, being kind to themselves is an important life skill. To be kind to others we need to be kind to ourselves—even though that is sometimes harder.
To be kind to others we need to be kind to ourselves - even though that is sometimes harder. Click To TweetTeaching Kindness: Bibliotherapy
I have always used picture books in my teaching. There is so much great learning and discussion that can come from a great book. When listening to a read-aloud or reading on their own, I teach kids to read the words and the pictures to get more of the story.
This year, I am pointing out the facial expressions of characters even more in books we read aloud. I am focusing on what the body language in a picture tells us about the story and the character. We also spend a lot of time comparing all the books we read and looking for similarities to understand how kindness, empathy can look in various contexts.
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Teaching Kindness: Picture Book Recommendations
Since it is February, when kindness and love are often highlighted, I thought I would share a few of my favorite books that my classes have enjoyed.
Those Shoes: great for discussion on needs and wants, compassion, kindness, generosity.
The Most Magnificent Thing: a great STEM book. The character gets frustrated and has to work through it and realize the good work she has done. Great for being kind to ourselves and showing a growth mindset.
The Cool Bean, The Bad Seed, The Smart Cookie: all by the same author about kindness to yourself and others.
What Does it Mean to Be Kind: a great launching point for a discussion with examples of being kind to others, our community, and the earth.
Suki’s Kimono: story of a girl who confidently wears her special kimono to the start of school.
Invisible Boy: about a boy who feels invisible and like he doesn’t belong. Beautiful illustrations provide so much to the story and help you to see the change in the character.
In My Heart: fun heart cutouts and different feelings on each page. Crucial to helping students name various feelings.
We’re All Wonders: the picture book version of the incredible novel, Wonder.
Kindness Grows: another book with fun cutouts. Great message about sharing and spreading kindness. How small actions add up to so much.
I love picture books so much! I hope you enjoy some of these selections too.
About Catherine Moffatt
Catherine has been teaching for almost twenty years. She has taught Kindergarten and Grade 3, and has been a teacher-librarian. She currently teaches Grade 2 part-time and is also the primary coordinator at her school. One of her favorite parts of teaching is to share her love of books with her students. Outside school, she is a busy mom of two amazing kids. She lives in Richmond BC with her husband, kids, and two pet guinea pigs.
