Empathy and positive social skills can take a lifetime to develop! My first graders practice skills and strategies to get them started on the road towards friendship, kindness, and collaboration.
My first grade students attend the only public environmental STEM School in our large urban district.
Many of my students are English language learners who need extra support to build vocabulary and language skills. Our school has high expectations for academic progress in all areas. As a STEM school we also have high expectations for children to bring positive social skills to group work. Students in all grades engage in character education and practice skills that foster collaboration.
My Project
I am asking you to help provide materials for my students to use throughout the year as we engage in empathy building activities and role-plays around common problems. We begin by learning to identify emotions in others and ourselves. From there we learn and practice friendship skills, impulse control, and problem solving.
If you give to my project you will add a lot to my instructional toolbox for social skills lessons, games, group activities and role-plays. Kimochi feelings icons are small plush beanbags that have the word for an emotion on one side and an illustration of the corresponding facial expression on the back. Plan Toy dolls are small, wooden, posable, multiethnic dolls for students to use as they learn and practice valuable strategies for solving common friendship and social problems.
One of my highest priorities as a teacher is to give students opportunities to practice friendship and empathy skills.
Every year that I have been at my current school, I have wished that I could provide my students with dolls to use as they learn and practice important skills. The Kimochi icons will be particularly important for my English language learners as they build important vocabulary for feelings.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Dorje and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.