A Caring Community of Learners

"We rise by lifting others." ~Robert Ingersoll

Jamie and Marta were playing on the playground pretending to be a family. Jamie was playing the mom and Marta was one of the daughters. They had just finished pretending to eat dinner and Jamie told Marta to take the dog out. Marta started shouting, “No!” and stomped off yelling, over her shoulder, “I am never playing with you again!”

The girls' teacher saw this exchange and called the girls together. Marta arrived crying and her teacher explained to Jamie that Marta’s dog had passed away over the weekend. Jamie immediately gave Marta a hug. Marta apologized. Jamie asked her if she still wanted to play and, wiping away her tears, Marta said, “yes.” Together they ran off to resume playing mother and daughter.

Here at Glacier Ridge School we believe that teaching empathy is an extremely important part of the educational process. We work hard at building a sense of community. Our staff gets to know the students as learners which includes knowing about their interests and activities outside of school. By knowing their students so well they are able then to help facilitate the social emotional growth: including teaching empathy. Research shows that a secure emotional environment instills confidence which in turn promotes academic growth. (1) Currently our primary teachers are participating in a book study of Purposeful Play by Kristine Mraz, Alison Porcelli, and Cheryl Tyler to strengthen our understanding of teaching empathy through play.

There are so many good books available to teach empathy, and at school, as well as at home, read alouds are a wonderful way to open up this dialogue. We get recommendations from many sources: Mrs. Jacobsen--a school librarian, Mrs. Johnston--our school librarian, teachers, professional organizations, and blogs (to name a few). One of our favorite blogs is Blogging Through the Fourth Dimension by Pernille Ripp. In a post earlier this year, Pernille posted a fabulous list of books to spark conversations about empathy: https://pernillesripp.com/2016/10/28/more-picture-books-to-spark-empathy/

We encourage you to check this blog out. Start with this link and pick up a book or two from the library or the bookstore (We recommend Read Between the Lynes in Woodstock.) to help promote the teaching of empathy. What you do at home will go a long way for what we continue with here at school.

Jamie and Marta were so happy to play together again that they are having a sleepover during the Winter Break.

'Tis the season!

1. Source: Joslin, Sarah; University of Wisconsin-River Falls (2015) Building a

Classroom Community Journal on Best Teaching Practices, 2 (1), 12-13.