October is for Pandas.

To foster a respectful learning environment at Cottage Lane, this year our Character Education Program will liven up our lives with “Wild about Character.” Each month we will focus on a character trait, a symbolic animal and a shared reading. Each assembly will celebrate this trait and recognize students who exemplified this trait. By the end of the year, the Cottage Lane Community will be “Wild about Character Education.” As a school community we will continue to focus on empathy. Empathy is the feeling that you understand and share another person’s experiences and emotions. It is the ability to share someone else’s feelings.

“Teaching a child not to step on a caterpillar is as valuable to the child as it is to the caterpillar.” – Bradley Miller

As you go through your day, consider things from the perspectives of those you encounter:

• Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another
• Empathy is about standing in someone else’s shoes, feeling with his or her heart, seeing with his or her eyes
• Empathy makes the world a better place

Activities

How can you show empathy?

• Active listening: Express active interest in what the other person has to say and make him or her feel heard
• Shared identity: Think of a person who seems to be very different from you, and then list what you have in common
• Put a human face on suffering: When reading the news, look for profiles of specific individuals and try to imagine what their lives have been like
• Eliciting altruism: Create reminders of connectedness
• Listen to a brief summary of our book of the month, Zen Shorts by Jon J Muth. Practice empathy by understanding other’s experiences

Resources

• You’re a Grand Old Flag
  
• Empathy Chorus
• Sesame Street: Mark Ruffalo on Empathy
• Stand in My Shoes: Kids Learn About Empathy by Bob Sornson
• Article: Helping Kids Learn Empathy
• Walk a Mile in My Shoes by Elvis Presley

“Empathy”