Building more compassionate students is not too hard for elementary school teachers. Students at this age have a very strong sense of right and wrong. If you have any doubts about this just have someone wrongfully accuse another person in your classroom, and mayhem will ensue. Therefore teaching students to be more compassionate and be willing to help others is not that hard. I have found that if you inform the students of the suffering of others, they will jump on board to help. Texas is experiencing a natural disaster that has left many homeless. It all began with severe droughts in East Texas. Now East Texas, unlike West Texas is fairly green, so droughts will dry up a lot of brush and grass. This creates an opportunity for wildfires to take form. This is exactly what happened. Unfortunately many have lost their homes because of the wildfires. I have made of compilation of websites that will help educate students on what is happening in the Texas wildfires right now. I have also found a website that teaches about drought. Once we have gone over the information, then we can create activities to help the Red Cross help the victims of the Texas wildfires.
Article on Texas Wildfires
Video CBS News: “No Containment of Texas Wildfire”
Map of Texas Wildfires
Having gone through not just one but two catastrophic fires in the San Diego region, I was very happy to read about how you are educating your students about these devastating natural disasters. And I agree with your statement about elementary students having a strong sense of right and wrong as well as compassion. As a middle school teacher, I know that 6th through 8th graders sometimes get a bad rap (deserved at times, I will concede!); however, many of my students are very compassionate. One young lady started a fundraiser to help out a community that had experienced some severe flooding, and that was such a heartwarming thing to see!
ReplyDeleteThis could also be a great opportunity for your students to learn about the weather and how it contributes to the drought. I couldn't see your websites (I had an error message with each one. It's probably my computer, not your post)so I did a search on my own: http://txforestservice.tamu.edu/main/article.aspx?id=12888
ReplyDeleteThis website gives current conditions and progress concerning the fires- it also includes a daily weather report. You could incorporate it into the class by having a student read the weather report daily as an opener. Just a thought!
Hello!
ReplyDeleteI also had some troubles accessing the links (it looks like the link to this blog post is in front of the link; once I deleted the first part everything was fine!), and am glad to see that you are educating your students about the fires.
In addition to the Red Cross, is anything being done at the immediate local level? I know that this can vary by community, but it may be worth checking into. I also wanted to suggest the following website:
http://www.dosomething.org/
You may want to check your zip code to see if there is anything nearby :) Amy