Books to teach Kindness in the classroom
Just like reading or math, kindness is an essential skill that is so important for students to learn early on. It’s a skill they will take with them throughout the rest of their lives and hopefully, use daily.
In order to create a classroom community of kind students, it’s crucial to teach just how valuable even the smallest act of kindness can be.
You can read about my favorite books to use when teaching kindness below and grab a set of digital kindness read alouds for FREE at the bottom of this post!
Enemy Pie
By: Derek Munson
This is a classic when teaching about kindness. The main character decides he does not like the new neighbor and goes to his father for advice. The wise father agrees to help him make “Enemy Pie”, but in order for it’s ingredients to work he must spend the entire day with his enemy and he must even be nice to him!
Each Kindness
By: Jacqueline Woodson
Each Kindness is a story about a new girl Maya, who is bullied after starting the new school. The main character, Chloe, joins in with the other students as they make fun of Maya for the way she dresses. After Maya doesn’t return to school for sometime, Chole understands the impact of her actions when she learns Maya has moved away.
Ordinary Mary’s Extraordinary Deed
By: Emily Pearson
This book will inspire your students as it shows everyday acts of kindness really are extraordinary. Mary is just an ordinary girl who decides to pick blueberries and share with her neighbor, Mrs. Bishop. This small act begins a chain reaction as Mrs. Bishop decides to bake blueberry muffins for the paperboy and four other people. One of those people help several more people-and the chain goes on and on!
Share Some Kindness, Bring Some Light
By: Apryl Stott
All the animals think that bear is mean and scary because of his size. His friend Coco, decides to help him. She tells him what her grandmother always told her,” When life gets dark as winter’s night, share some kindness, bring some light.” The two decide to share cookies and make lanterns. When they find the cookies and lanterns don’t work to win over the other animals, they must find another way. Bear and Coco learn that kindness is something you can offer from your heart.
A Sick Day for Amos McGee
By: Phillip C. Steed
This sweet story is about a zookeeper named Amos McGee who, although is very busy with his daily tasks, always finds the time to spend with his friends ( the animals) at the zoo. When Amos is sick one day, the animals decide it’s time they show kindness and make a visit to see him.
