Compassion

April 2024 SEL THEME – Empathy & Compassion – PICTURE BOOKS

Posted on April 24, 2024 by alisakaczorowski in Literacy, Parenting, Social Emotional Learning, Trauma Informed Care

Looking for a curated list of mentor texts to use during an empathy and compassion unit or lesson? Look no further!

I also shared about one of my favorite (and new to me!) books on empathy and compassion on YouTube earlier this week. You can watch the video here.

What other books would you add to this list? I’m sure there are so many good ones out there that I don’t even know about!

APRIIL 2024 SEL THEME – EMPATHY & COMPASSION – Strategies for parents and educators

Posted on April 10, 2024 by alisakaczorowski in Business, Parenting, Social Emotional Learning, Trauma Informed Care

Empathy can be a very tricky skill to build in kids. Heck, lots of adults struggle to be empathetic!

Starting early with very young kids is key. Here are three activities/strategies that can be used with kids of all ages but are particularly beneficial to younger kiddos.

Caring for Plants, Animals and Babies – Involving young children in caring for plants, animals and babies is a very effective and “entry-level” way to begin building empathy. Model and assign specific tasks to them and discuss how they are helping that living thing to survive and thrive. Have conversations around how we are all responsible for caring for other living things in the world and encourage them to think of ways they can do so. Eventually, you can take a more global perspective with this strategy by moving from them caring for siblings, houseplants and family pets to caring for these things in their classroom or school community, neighborhood or city and beyond.
Story Talk – This strategy is exactly what it sounds like – talking about the characters in a story. By discussing their lives, their problems and hardships, and how they might be similar or different from us, we can begin to open our children’s eyes to all the different types of people who share our world. Beginning to understand the concept of diversity is a critical first step toward building empathy. If the book calls for it, ask your kids or students to brainstorm ways they could help the character through compassionate acts. This is a great way to, not only build empathy, but encourage kids to take their empathy one step further by acting on it.
Walk the Line – While this activity from Big Life Journal is geared toward older children, you can certainly adjust to make it work for younger kids. The idea is to help a group of kids begin to see how others have similar experiences as them and begin to build empathy for people who seemingly “don’t have problems” or “have it easier than they do.” With younger children, simply focus on identifying the things that kids in the group have in common. This is a great first step. You can also extend this activity through a variety of writing activities that are mentioned at the article link.

What other activities do you use to build empathy in your kids or students? I’d love to hear about them so please share!

Apriil 2024 SEL THEME – Empathy & Compassion – AN INTRODUCTION

Posted on April 3, 2024 by alisakaczorowski in Consulting, Parenting, Social Emotional Learning, Trauma Informed Care

Welcome to April and our 4th social-emotional learning theme of the month! This is a tricky one for many of our kiddos so get ready for some great information and strategies!

In this first week of the month, we will define our theme, discuss why it’s an important SEL skill and talk real-world application. This will serve as a springboard for the resources and other ideas I will be sharing throughout the remainder of the month.

So, let’s dive in!

What are empathy and compassion exactly? You may not know there is a difference between them, but there is! Here’s a good starting point to use with kids of all ages. You can adjust this definition to best fit the needs of the age group you work with. I know many of these themes are pretty self-explanatory, but sometimes we just need someone else to sum it up for us!

Now that kids know what empathy and compassion are, we need to help them understand why these skills are important and how they will be beneficial to them.

Next, we can begin connecting empathy and compassion with kids’ real lives by helping them recognize what these skills actually look like!

Empathy is a skill that takes some time, practice and modeling to fully develop. How can you be a picture of empathy and compassion this month (and beyond) for your kids or students?

Be sure to follow along all month right here on the blog, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. I will be sharing all sorts of tips, strategies and resources throughout April.