Empathy Rocks in the USA: Detained Immigrant Children

Find the Lesson Here

Students will learn about what is happening to immigrant children at our border and brainstorm ways they can help. Students will be learning about something happening NOW which is uncommon. They will learn about an issue children are facing in our country at this very moment.

Each month we will provide our “Empathy Countdown,” with 5 Acts of Kindness, 4 suggested art lessons with instructions, 3 Reading Guides, 2 Activities, and 1 Empathy Inspiration. Each has a lesson about empathy that can be discussed either before or after the art project is completed. These are simply extras provided for you if you would like to supplement the lessons, and are not required. Most projects shouldn’t take more than thirty minutes and are easy and fun for students.

 

Supplemental Guides

 
 

ACTS OF KINDNESS

  1. Write a gratitude list in the morning and again in the evening.

  2. Help a family member who needs it.

  3. Put 50 paper hearts in a box. On each heart write something special about your classmates. Keep the box and let people pull out a heart anytime they need a pick-me-up.

  4. Everyone is important. Learn the names of your school janitors, lunch ladies, and other people you see every day. Greet them by name.

  5. Write a list for a friend, parent, teacher, or sibling of things you love about them.

Art Projects

 

Fingerpainted Popsicle Stick Flags

Toilet Roll Dragons

God’s Eye

Dreamcatcher

 

Reading Guides

 

Mama’s Nightingale: A Story of Immigration and Seperation

My Name Is Yoon

Her Right Foot

 

Classroom activities

 

Compliment Game

Kindness Dominoes

 
 

 Empathy Inspiration

When 15-year-old Alexa Grabelle was 10 years old, she created the nonprofit Bags of Books to get books into the hands of kids who might not otherwise be able to afford them.

Alexa, from New Jersey, was inspired to do something when she learned about the "summer slide" (the term used to describe the regression in learning that many kids experience over the summer) and how it was most likely to affect kids from low-income families who may not have access to books when they're not in school.

Through Bags of Books, Alexa has distributed more than 120,000 children's books to schools, homeless shelters and children's hospitals.