Week

Exploration Questions

Challenge

Resources

💭 What is kindness?

💭 How do you know when a person is in need of kindness?

💭 Can kindness ever be hurtful or not go the way you intended it to?

✏️ Kindness Log:

Keep a class or individual log(s) this week of ways you shared kindness with others.

What did you do? How was it received? What would you do the same or differently next time?

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Picture Book: Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña

Novel: Wonder by R.J. Palacio

Video: Take a Seat, Make a Friend (Soul Pancake)

Website Article: Kindness Ideas (SpreadKindness)

Older Students

Flyer: The Dos and Donts of Digital Kindness (Guilford Press)

Video: Charity that Hurts (Poverty Cure)

More Resources & Lesson Ideas

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Picture Book: Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodsen
People by Peter Spier
The Man with The Violin by Kathy Stinson
Peace by Wendy Anderson Halperin
Website Article: 10 Kindness Week Ideas for Schools (RandomActsOfKindness)

Older Students

Video: What is Kindness? Teens Respond (RandomActsOfKindness)
Video: Kindness Scientist (RandomActsOfKindness)
Research Article: Measuring Kindness At School (Journal of Psychology in Schools)
Flyer: Kindness Health Facts (RandomActsofKindness)

Lesson Plan Ideas

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💭 How do we know when someone feels grateful?

💭 How do you show that you are grateful?

💭 When is it hard to show gratitude?

✏️ Gratitude Letters:

Reflect on people, events, or opportunities you are grateful for but maybe have not expressed. Write a letter (or poem or create a video or some other form of expression) and share.

Option: Create a Gratitude Board in your school by taking photos or including QR codes of students and their Gratitude Letters

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Picture Book: The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

Novel: Wonder by R.J. Palacio (continued from Week 1)

Video: Kids President’s 25 Reasons to be Thankful (SoulPancake)

Website Article: Do You Have a Positive Attitude? (Wonderopolis)

Older Students

Article: Teenagers: Are You More Entitled Than Grateful? (UC Berkeley)

Article: Stop Making Gratitude All About You (Harvard Business Review)

Video: The Science of Gratitude (The Tremendousness Collective)

More Resources & Lesson Ideas

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Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are? By Dr. Seuss
Thanks A Million by Nicki Grimes
Andy and The Lion by James Daugherty
The Mine-O-Saur by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen

Older Students

Video: Want to Be Happy? Be Grateful (TED Talk)
Video: An Experiment in Gratitude (Soul Pancake) *mild language*
Article: Four Great Gratitude Strategies (UC Berkeley)

Lesson Plan Ideas

Activities to Help Students Deepen their Gratitude (UC Berkeley)

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EMPATHY

Why is it important to understand someone else’s perspective?

When is this hard to do?
How can you better understand?

💭 What is empathy and why is it important?

💭 What can help you move from assuming you understand someone to really understanding them better?

💭 What makes it hard to do this?

✏️ Mix It Up (At Lunch or in Your Classroom)

Watch the videos at Teaching Tolerance by Monita Bell, the coordinator of Mix It Up At Lunch. Host a Mix It Up At Lunch event in your school or adapt for your classroom.

Here are several “Mixers” activities by Teaching Tolerance to get you started

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Picture Book: Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts

Novel: Two Naomis by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich & Audrey Vernick

Video:

Website Article:

Older Students

Article:

Video: Color Blind or Color Brave? (TED Talk)

Video: Against Empathy (The Atlantic) mild themes, language

More Resources & Lesson Ideas

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