Bullying Hurts: Teaching Kindness Through Read Alouds
My students need this collection of books to support our classroom belief of being kind & compassionate to one another and to foster a caring & safe learning environment.
As a classroom full of individuals, we strive to come together as a family. We do this by learning kindness. As simple as this may sound, it is hard work to get to the heart of the matter. Our conversations are guided through a series of books about kindness and respect. Our goal is to end bullying.
Our classroom family is made up of twenty-five individuals as unique as they are vibrant.
Each day, they question, they yearn for answers, they discover and they unravel truths. They do this, because in our classroom, we value kindness. In this type of environment, they feel safe to make mistakes, take risks and do what it takes to fix problems. Our diverse student population creates a classroom full of new and different values, beliefs and ways of life. We overcome our differences by celebrating diversity and uncovering misunderstandings. When we dig a little deeper and uncover truths about one another, we see that different is also the same. Humanity and kindness become a way of life and the conversations we have surrounding the books we are asking for, help us create a culture where kindness is an expectation.
My Project
What better way to teach children about kindness than to engage them in a series of books that highlight compassion and humanity? Lester Laminack, author of Bullying Hurts: Teaching Kindness Through Read Alouds and Guided Conversations, created a list of highly captivating pieces of literature that get to the heart of the matter - people are people and we are all worthy of love and belonging. The book titles Mr. Laminack compiled are set-up to systematically promote, teach and inspire kindness. The 25 identified resources are specifically divided and used to support the progression of moral development within our community of elementary students. The chosen titles are dynamic enough to use in classrooms from kindergarten to fifth grade with minimal adaptations ~ making this an excellent list to incorporate within a classroom of diverse learners. No curriculum should be without standards on how to promote, inspire and instill kindness.
Bullying is becoming an epidemic.
If we, as a classroom community, take the initiative and instill values of kindness and compassion within our classroom's core curriculum - we are taking meaningful and effective steps to help fight against the bullying that is ever-present in today's school setting.
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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 Mrs. Pelinka and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.