Heart-Mind Newsletter: New Kindness Resource on Heart-Mind Online and the DLC receives funding for our Heart-Mind in Schools Initiative
NEW HEART-MIND ONLINE RESOURCE:
6 Kind Activities Inspired by The Little Hummingbird Book
Inspired by the beautiful picture book, The Little Hummingbird, written by Haida author and artist Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas, we have created a new resource on Heart-Mind Online which explores the role of kindness, compassion, helping, and altruismin children's lives.
The book illustrates a poignant message that each of us can make a difference, no matter how small we are and how big the problem seems.
The story opens to a terrible fire burning in a forest. The largest and fiercest animals run away, with even Wolf howling that he is “so small” compared to the ravaging disaster. The animals gather at the edge of the fiery forest and watched the only animal brave enough to try and extinguish the fire: Little Hummingbird. The tiny bird flies to and fro between the stream and the forest, picking up a single drop of water in her beak and dropping it on the blaze.
When Big Bear asks what she’s doing, Little Hummingbird simply looks at the other animals and says, “I am doing what I can."
Little Hummingbird may have been one of the smallest animals in the forest, but she was the only one brave enough to help her friends in a seemingly helpless situation.
This book is particularly relevant to exploring the Personal Awareness and Responsibility and Social Responsibility core competencies of BC’s revised curriculum for elementary school students. Further, as The Little Hummingbird is based on a South American Indigenous story and adapted with Yahgulanaas’ unique Haida Manga style, the book can be used to integrate diverse Indigenous perspectives and art forms into the classroom.
It’s never too early to start exploring these themes with children. Felix Warneken’s research at Harvard University has found that toddlers as young as 14 months will naturally help out strangers, even when they’re promised no reward for doing so.
Visit Heart-Mind Onlineto explore The Little Hummingbird resourceand discover six activities you can try with children to help them understand that no matter how big the problem, they can help out and make a difference.
GOOD NEWS!
DLC'S HEART-MIND IN SCHOOLS INITIATIVE RECEIVES FUNDING FOR 3 YEARS
We are pleased to announce that DLC has received funding from Vancouver Foundation, Edith Lando Foundation and an anonymous foundation for our Heart-Mind in Schools initiative that will include an expansion of Heart-Mind Online. This 3-year demonstration project will allow us to further our work supporting educators in effectively integrating SEL practices and Heart-Mind well-being within their schools.
In September 2016, the BC provincial government echoed the significance of this work through rolling out curriculum changes to include targeted social and emotional learning for each grade level. The revised curriculum lists a Personal and Social Core Competency, which is defined as encompassing the “abilities students need to thrive as individuals, to understand and care about themselves and others, and to find and achieve their purposes in the world.”
The Heart-Mind initiative will work with selected school pilot sites across the province to develop and test easy-to-use, practical resources and professional development opportunities to assist teachers in integrating this transformative new curriculum item into their classrooms. Yet, we know that effective Heart-Mind learning does more than meet a curriculum need—it provides an ever-important gift of lifelong well-being to the children who receive it.
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HEART-MIND WELL-BEING WORKSHOPS
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Our Heart-Mind workshops help build capacity in individuals, families, organizations and communities to promote the Heart-Mind well-being of children and youth.
