At Wiliamsburg Northside Lower School, Social Studies is taught as collaborative project work focusing on the concept of community. Students begin by studying small, familiar communities, such as their family, and gradually branch out through the grades to encompass our school, neighborhood, city, state, country and planet. In Kindergarten, students study the classroom as a community.
At the beginning of the year, we came together and discussed how to have a safe and happy classroom. The expectations and guidelines we wrote together became our Kindergarten Agreement. After creating our Kindergarten Agreement, where we promised that we would “treat others with kindness and respect,” we all came to the conclusion that in order to be a true member of a community, we must be mindful and aware of each other’s feelings. This led us to an exploration of our Core Values.
We began by focusing on empathy, an important aspect of our Core Value of Compassion. When we strive to empathize with the members of our community, we are better able to treat others with kindness and respect.
We introduced the concept of empathy by reading the book A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip C. Stead. When Amos, the zookeeper, couldn’t come into work one day, all of the animals from the zoo went to his house to check on him and keep him company while he was sick. While discussing this fun and relatable story, students quickly expressed empathy for Amos and communicated how they would feel if they were sick and home alone. After reading the book, we played a game using situation cards as a way to put ourselves into someone else’s shoes.
We discussed how we would feel in these situations. Students were able to articulate their feelings clearly, sharing responses like “I would feel sad if my friend didn’t want to play with me because that would be mean,” and “I would feel mad and frustrated if I couldn’t close my jacket because then I would be cold on the terrace.” These responses lead to a discussion about how we could be better friends in our classroom community. We agreed that we would be better friends – and better able to comfort and check on someone’s feelings – if we thought about how certain situations would make us feel first. We continued to discuss empathy by examining these different types of feelings we have and certain instances in which these feelings are prevalent. After we discussed our feelings, we practiced showing empathy while role-playing different scenarios that we see in our daily lives in order to help us gain the necessary tools for responding to the feelings of others.
The Kindergarten students decided to create a Wall of Love in order to show empathy and friendship throughout the school. As inspired by the sticky notes in the subway, we have created our own “Wall of Love” in the front entryway. Each sticky note expresses something that we love about our peers, family, friends, and school community.
All of the classes in the school have been encouraged to add to it as well. The Wall of Love can be found on the first floor hallway right by the entrance to the school. We are so proud to see how much it has already grown. It is an expression of a strong community to see all the notes of love and happiness each day when we come to school!