Picture Book - Kindergarten: Where Kindness Matters Every Day by Vera Ahiyya

Kindergarten: Where Kindness Matters Every Day Read Aloud

Summary: This is a story of a class coming together and making their classroom more kind. It uses kindness to welcome and make each other more comfortable and safe in a new environment. 

Genre:   Fiction Picture Book              Age: 4-8 years old 

A fiction picture book is when a story is made up and throughout the book includes many illustrations to make visual connection with it. This type of book is to deliver a message in both story and illustrations and perform; it makes it easier for children to understand and practice. 

Suggested Activities: 

*Before reading

Before introducing the book, have paper hearts for each child. Give them different examples of being harsh or mean to others, after saying something negative crumble the paper heart up. As you continue to say mean things keep crumbling. Then try to fix it by being nice and supportive. This will show them that even after being nice and helping the damage is done, the heart will never be the same. 

* After reading

Introduce a compliment box and keep it in the classroom year around. Have children write compliments to each other and at the end of the day/week deliver the compliments to each student. 

Personal Comment: This book is great to help welcome new kindergarteners as they are scared, afraid of this big change in their lives. As they try to make friends in this new environment, they have to learn how to respond and treat others. It focused on showing and being kind to each other, as it is important for children to understand and practice it.