Creating Kind and Compassionate Kids

Classroom Activities to Enhance Self-Awareness, Empathy, and Personal Growth in Grades 3-6

Deborah S. Delisle, James Delisle

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781000491357
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Creating Kind and Compassionate Kids offers lessons and activities that promote problem solving and social-emotional learning, allowing students in grades 3-6 to become more aware of themselves and others who share their world. Each lesson:

• Addresses both cognitive and affective skills, enhancing students' appreciation of themselves and others.
• Encourages students to think creatively and critically.
• Teaches vital affective skills, such as empathy, tolerance, compassion, communication, and leadership.
• Includes one or more samples of student work to guide students' responses.
• Has been tested by teachers in multiple classrooms with students of all ability levels.

With its focus on relevant, lasting learning experiences that encourage social and emotional growth, Creating Kind and Compassionate Kids is a resource that teachers will turn to again and again.

Grades 3-6

Part I
Activities to Help Students Grow With Others

DOI: 10.4324/9781003233886-4

Activity 1
Grate Misteaks

DOI: 10.4324/9781003233886-5

Most students are too aware of their own mistakes. Not all children, however, realize that adults are just as mistake-prone as young people. Even more surprising is the discovery that mistakes have led to the invention of products, ideas, and tools that are integral parts of our daily lives.

Using the mistaken inventions of cheese, Velcro, chocolate chip cookies, and Silly Putty, or reading about famous people like J. K. Rowling, Albert Einstein, Rosa Parks, and Steven Spielberg, take your students on an excursion into the "Land of Oops"—the place where accidental discoveries turn into amazing creations. People who are now well known are so because they believed that "if at first you don't succeed, try, try again." Then, in an effort to help students appreciate both the inevitability and the benefits of making mistakes, join them in creating a bulletin board to revisit and reassess some of their most embarrassing moments.

Learning Objectives

Through this activity, students will:

• think critically and creatively,
• recognize the value of mistakes in the creative process,
• find humor in their own and others' mistakes,
• understand that mistakes are inevitable and acceptable, and
• tell and write personal anecdotes.

Materials

• Handout 1.1: Students' Grate Misteaks
• Handout 1.2: My Gratest Misteak
• Handout 1.3: Major League Mistakes
• Paper bag or pillowcase containing a chocolate chip cookie, a piece of Silly Putty, a Frisbee, a can of Coca-Cola, and a packet of sticky notes
• Pencils, colored pencils, pens, crayons, or markers
• Optional: Mistakes That Worked by Charlotte Foltz Jones and/or Fantastic Failures by Luke Reynolds (or another children's book about the benefits of mistake-making)
• For Classroom Extensions: Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days! by Stephen Manes

Time

One 45-minute session

Activity Steps

1. Ask students to complete this statement: The greatest inventor of all time is─────. You can expect answers ranging from Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, George Washington Carver, and Thomas Edison, to "the person who invented the computer" and "whoever thought up pizza." Tell students: Good answers, but they're all wrong! (You may share a wry smile at this point, so students don't take you too seriously.) Then, reveal the answer, attributed to author Mark Twain, that the greatest inventor of all time is "accident."
2. Your students will probably look puzzled, so go on to prove your point with this story: It was a long, hot day and a long, hot ride. The camel had had breath and great aim when he spat at his rider, who rode along uncomfortably on his shifting, jerky perch. It's a good thing the traveler had milk in his animal-stomach pouch to quench his thirst. However, when he opened the pouch to drink some milk, a funny thing had happened. Can you guess what it was? Don't be surprised if several students get the answer right: The milk had turned into cheese. The shaking up and down of the milk, coupled with the enzymatic action of the animal-stomach pouch, curdled the milk.
3. Discuss inventions that resulted from mistakes. Take out your bag or pillowcase of inventions. Read some or all of the following descriptions. As students guess what each invention was, pull out the item for all to see. These inventions are also described in the book Mistakes That Worked(Jones, 2016).
   • Invention 1: Ruth Wakefield was running around trying to clean and cook for the guests staying at her inn in Massachusetts when she realized she'd forgotten to make a dessert for dinner. "No problem," she thought. "I'll make chocolate cookies." She searched her kitchen for baking chocolate (the dark, bitter kind), but all she had were milk chocolate candy bars. She hurriedly broke up the candy bars and tossed the pieces into the cookie dough. What did Ruth Wakefield invent? (Chocolate chip cookies.)
   • Invention 2: During World War II, real rubber was scarce, so the U.S. government asked scientists to invent artificial rubber. James Wright experimented with silicone and boric acid, but all he got was a lump of stuff that was too flexible and bouncy to be made into tires or army boots. He thought he had failed completely. Several years later, Peter Hodgson saw the advantages of Wright's "failed" experiment. What very silly thing had James Wright invented? (Silly Putty.)
   • Invention 3: In Bridgeport, CT, there was a bakery known for its delicious pies. Each pie came baked in its own metal dish. Students at nearby Yale University loved these pies—and the dishes. When the students were done eating, they had a toy. They'd toss the pie dish from person to person in an odd game of catch. Whoever threw the pie dish called out the name of the bakery imprinted on it. What was the name of the bakery and the toy? (Frisbee.)
   • Invention 4: Dr. John Pemberton invented a hair dye and a couple of potions that made people go to the toilet more, or less, often. While he was formulating a medicine to get rid of nervousness and headaches, he decided it needed a little water and ice. By accident, his assistant added the wrong water—carbonated instead of from the tap. What did Dr. Pemberton and his assistant invent? (Coca-Cola.)
   • Invention 5: A large manufacturer needed a really strong glue to compete with super glue. One scientist had the almost perfect formula, but his glue was too weak to hold anything together permanently. Four years later, another scientist from the same company was singing in a church choir. He kept losing his place in the hymnal as all of his page markers fell to the floor. It was then that he thought of the weak glue, and a great way to use it. What new product did the scientists invent? (Sticky notes.)
4. Once you have shared the vignettes, ask students to explain the point of these stories. Example responses: A mistake isn't always a had thing if you view it in a different way. Sometimes you have to make mistakes before you learn something new.
5. Talk about personal mistakes. Tell your students about a mistake in your own life or an embarrassing moment that you'll never forget. (Once, one of this book's authors, Jim, had just finished telling his fourth graders to be sure to choose only dry-erase markers to use on the new, white marker boards. Within 10 minutes, Jim had covered an entire marker board with sentences and diagrams using a permanent black marker.) Ask students if they've ever made a mistake that left them feeling silly or embarrassed. You might ask:
   • Did you ever score a goal or basket for the other team? What happened? How did you feel?
   • Did you ever talk to someone you thought was your friend, only to find out you were talking to a total stranger? What happened? How did you feel?
   • Did you ever put your clothes on inside out, or underdress for an occasion? What happened? How did you feel?
   • Did you ever say something behind a teacher's or a relative's back, only to discover that the person heard you? What happened? How did you feel?
   • Did you ever make a mistake that turned out not to be a mistake after all? What happened? How did you feel?
6. Allow several volunteers to tell their stories. Once the laughter subsides, ask: What did you learn from your mistakes? Next, explain that the class is going to compile a bulletin board called "Our Gratest Misteaks" (misspelled on purpose, of course!), in which students (and the teacher) reveal some of their most embarrassing moments.
7. Write about mistakes. Display or distribute Handout 1.1: Students' Grate Misteaks. Read the descriptions of mistakes and discuss them together. Then, using Handout 1.2: My Gratest Misteak, have students write and, if they wish, illustrate their greatest mistake. If students have trouble thinking of their own mistakes, suggest that they write about one made by a family member. Caution students against revealing anything too personal or embarrassing.
8. Display stories about mistakes. Post the written accounts, including your own, for all to see. You have just taught your students a lifelong lesson: Mistakes happen to everyone, and people can often learn something from them.

Classroom Extensions

• Using Handout 1.3: Major League Mistakes as a springboard, have students research the mistakes and setbacks of famous people. The website Wanderlust Worker (https://wanderlustworker.com/48-famous-failureswho-will-inspire-you-to-achieve) highlights the struggles and eventual triumphs of people as diverse as Abraham Lincoln, Beyoncé, Dr. Seuss, Colonel Sanders, and Katy Perry. You may have to pick and choose among these "famous failures," depending on the maturity level of your students, but the case is clear:...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Creating an Invitational Classroom and School
• The ABCs of Effective Learning Environments
• Part I: Activities to Help Students Grow With Others
• Part II: Activities for Growing With the World
• Recommended Resources
• References
• About the Authors