Help me give my students an inspiring and comforting collection of poems and picture book and a subscription to Deep Space Sparkle to help be teach compassion through art.
In my classroom, students are growing not just as learners, but as compassionate, empathetic individuals. Art is a powerful tool to help children understand emotions and perspectives different from their own. Through visual art and poetry, my fourth graders will learn to “see the world through someone else’s eyes”—a key part of building empathy and social-emotional awareness.
Using the Deep Space Sparkle Sparklers' Club curriculum, students will engage in standards-aligned lessons designed to foster creativity and compassion.
Through engaging, hands-on projects, students will strengthen their ability to observe, empathize, and respond to others with care.
A key activity will be the “I Am” poem, where students step into the lives of people depicted in artwork. By imagining what someone else might feel or experience, they build deeper emotional understanding. We will also read See Us Bloom: Poems on Compassion, Acceptance, and Bravery to explore themes of inclusion and kindness, and Ruby’s Hope: A Story of How the Famous “Migrant Mother” Photograph Became the Face of the Great Depression to connect art to our English Language Arts curriculum. These texts will help students reflect on real historical events and the emotions behind them.
Student artwork will be displayed across campus to inspire empathy and encourage compassionate action and serve as a call to kindness within our school community. By engaging in various art activities, students can develop empathy and find ways to alleviate suffering in others through creative expression and community engagement.
To measure growth, students will complete pre- and post-project reflection surveys with prompts like, “This art prompts me to consider ways I can offer support to others.”
A subscription to Deep Space Sparkle and access to these powerful books will support my goal of teaching compassion through art—nurturing both the hearts and minds of my students.
More than a third of students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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