Kind Words

Here are some sweet Character Education books about using kind words that I wanted to share with you today.

Stick and Stone, by Beth Ferry and Tom Lichtenheld:

Here is a little sample of the sweetness:

This book made me think of this saying that I love. I made this little picture and have it hanging in my room. You are welcome to print a copy if you’d like! My students are really good about not calling names or being mean. I think it’s because we do so much talking about kindness, that they know it would break my heart most of all if they were mean to another student in the class.

I like to use Words are Not for Hurting when we talk about using kind words.

The Toothpaste Lesson is one of my favorite object lessons, because the kids really “get” it. I use a travel size tube of toothpaste. I ask a student to come up and squeeze out all of the toothpaste onto a plate. That’s the fun part. Next, I ask him to put the toothpaste back into the tube. We wait. And wait. This is such a great visual to remind the students that words that come out of their mouths cannot be put back, just like that toothpaste can’t be put back in the tube. So, they need to think about the words coming out of their mouths and be sure those words are kind. I made a couple pictures if you’d like to print these out and hang them up as a reminder in your classroom after you do this lesson.

The Invisible Boy another sweet book.

I found this video to share with you so you can see it-

What a great way to bring up topics like being kind and including EVERYONE. How would you feel if you were the invisible boy and nobody chose you or asked you to play? What is one way you could think of to include someone who may feel left out?

Sometimes children haven’t been taught these lessons, so your classroom may be the first time they actually think about how their actions affect others and have a chance to talk about that. These books are great for helping them make that connection.

Dr. Jean and I have different character education activities, as well as activities and songs for all subject areas, in each of our monthly HAPPIES packets! You can find these at Dr. Jean’s website or at my TpT Store!