
Division 1: Kindergarten – Grade 3
Below are discussion questions and activities to foster empathy for animals, people, and the environment. Both the discussion questions and activities are part of the ‘Empathy’ character education theme for the 2022-2023 school year! To see other character building themes, click here!
Discussion Questions:
- What do you see on the poster?
- How do you think the dog is feeling? How can you tell?
- How can you tell how other people are feeling? How can you tell how animals are feeling?
- What does the phrase ‘through their eyes’ mean to you? Explain.
- Why might it be important to ‘see’ from someone else’s point of view/perspective? Helps us to understand another’s feelings
- Why is it helpful to understand another’s feelings? Understanding someone’s point of view (empathy) can spur us to take action! This is known as compassionate empathy or compassion.
- What is empathy? Understanding, sharing and caring about the feelings of others.
- How can you “practise” empathy? Listen to others, put yourself in another’s shoes, read stories, watch movies that share the perspective of others, etc.
- How can you show empathy to others? Animals? What are some examples?
- How does empathy help us to be a good friend?
- How does empathy help us to take care of the environment?
Activities:
1. Practising Perspective Taking
As a class, go through the Taking Perspective Slides. Have students practise taking the perspective of others by discussing how the individuals on each slide might be feeling. Encourage students to explain why they came to their conclusion. After going through the slides have students reflect on one or more of the following questions, either through class discussion or journal writing.
- Which individual did you find it easiest to relate to? Explain.
- Which individual did you find the hardest to relate to? Explain.
- If you could ask that individual a question, what would you ask them and why?
- What are some examples of when taking the perspective of others is difficult to do? Strangers, people who we disagree with or that we might not like, people are different from us, when you are disagreeing with someone, when someone is feeling sad/angry/frustrated, animals that we aren’t familiar with, etc.
- Why do you think it is important to take the perspective of others?


2. Healthy Relationships
A need is something that is required for people to live a happy and healthy life. Just like people, domestic animals (pet and farm) also have needs, but they are met in different ways. One of the Five Needs of Animals is positive interactions. As a class, watch the Alberta SPCA video ‘Five Needs of Animals – Positive Interactions’ (5:14).
Post Video Discussion Questions:
- What does a healthy relationship with an animal look like to you?
- What does an unhealthy relationship with an animal look like to you?
- What are some ways animals can let people know they don’t feel comfortable in a situation? Body language, vocalizations such as growling or hissing, trying to get away or hide, bare teeth, bark, bite, etc.
- Why is it important to let an animal decide if they want to interact with us or not?
- How do you think an animal would feel if you interacted with them, even though their body language indicated they wanted to be left alone? If an animal does not want to be interacted with, we should leave them alone. Allowing animals to make their own decisions is good for their well-being and a great way to show respect.
Just like animals, people depend on healthy relationships with others to help fulfill their needs. As a class, brainstorm words or phrases that describe a healthy relationship. Display the Healthy Relationships Activity Sheet on the board and as a class complete the answers or have students complete the activity sheet individually or in pairs.
In partners or small groups, have students practise being a good friend. Encourage students to use ideas from the discussion and activity sheet to help.
EXTENSION: Part of a healthy relationship, such as friendships, is being able to resolve conflicts. As a class, brainstorm some examples of common conflicts between friends. Misunderstandings, hurt feelings, being left out, etc. Then, make a list of ways friends can resolve these conflicts. Listening to one another, trying to understand each other’s point of view, apologizing, taking time to consider solutions, getting help from a peer or an adult, etc. Keep the list displayed in the classroom for students to refer back to.
3. Through Their Eyes (K – Grade 2)
On My Mountain by Francois Aubineau is a story about sharing the environment from two different perspectives. To start, read aloud the story from the Shepherd’s point of view. Before reading from the wolf’s point of view, ask your students the following questions:
- Whose point of view is this story from?
- What does the Shepherd like about the mountain?
- What are the dangers on the mountain?
- Who are ‘the others’? Why do you think the Shepherd tries to avoid them?
- What do you know about wolves? If you were the Shepherd, how would you feel about wolves?
After the discussion, flip the book over and read the story again, but this time from the wolf’s perspective. Then, ask your students the following questions:
- Whose point of view is this story from?
- What does the wolf like about the mountain?
- What are the dangers on the mountain?
- Who are ‘the others’? Why do you think the wolf tries to avoid them?
- If you were the wolf, how would you feel about the Shepherd?
- How do you think the Shepherd and the wolf share the mountain? Why is it important?
- How do you share your environment with others? Animals?
Role-playing can contribute to perspective taking skills by encouraging students to put themselves in ‘the shoes’ of someone else and consider their perspective. In pairs, have students role-play a hypothetical conversation between the Shepherd and the wolves about their experience on the mountain as demonstrated in the book.


4. Design Challenge (Grade 3)
Prior to starting the activity download, print and cut out the Design Challenge Character Cards.
Explain to students that they will be working in small groups to design a resting spot for a mystery pet. As a class, brainstorm questions that they might want to ask the mystery pet in order to design a resting spot to meet their needs.
Next, have students form small groups (3-4 students) and have one student in each group volunteer to be the mystery pet. Hand out a mystery pet card to the student in the group who will act as the mystery pet. Allow this student to read over the character card a few times, to become familiar with the mystery pet and their unique needs.
Once the ‘mystery pet’ is ready, have the other group members interview them. Encourage students to take the perspective of the pet in order to determine what design elements they would want to include in their design to meet the needs of their pet.
After the interview, the student can share the mystery pet card with the group to make sure all design elements are accounted for. After determining the elements, they want to include, have students work as a team to design the resting spot.
Reflection Questions:
- What did you enjoy about this design task?
- What did you find challenging about this design task?
- Do you think interviewing the pet helped you to create a good design? Explain.
- When else can getting to know someone help solve a problem?
- In real life, animals can’t talk – what can we do to try and understand their perspective?
EXTENSION: Have students construct a model of the resting spot based on their design. Students can use a variety of materials (cardboard, tape, cloth, pipe cleaners, Styrofoam, plasticine, etc.) that would best represent the actual material used in creating the resting spot. Have each group present their model to the class. Have students explain why they selected the materials they did.
Curriculum Connections
ELAL
- Organizing Idea: Text Forms and Structures: Identifying and applying text forms and structures improves understanding of content, literary style, and our rich language traditions.
- Guiding Question: How can ideas and information be organized?
- Learning Outcome: Children explore how messages can be organized.
- Skills and Procedures:
- Create imaginative representations or dramatizations of stories that include story elements.
- Skills and Procedures:
- Learning Outcome: Children explore how messages can be organized.
- Guiding Question: How can ideas and information be organized?
- Organizing Idea: Comprehension: Text comprehension is supported by applying varied strategies and processes and by considering both particular contexts and universal themes.
- Guiding Question: How are messages understood?
- Learning Outcome: Children demonstrate understandings of messages communicated in texts
- Skills and Procedures:
- Listen to a variety of texts that are read aloud.
- Engage in discussions about texts that have been listened to.
- Retell or dramatize a story, including characters and events.
- Skills and Procedures:
- Learning Outcome: Children demonstrate understandings of messages communicated in texts
- Guiding Question: How are messages understood?
Physical Education and Wellness
- Organizing Idea: Character Development: Exploration of life opportunities and virtues develops resilience and personal talents and promotes lifelong learning.
- Guiding Question: How can personal characteristics influence feelings and emotions?
- Learning Outcome: Children describe personal characteristics and explore feelings and emotions.
- Skills and Procedures:
- Express feelings in a variety of ways.
- Recognize that feelings and emotions are part of the human experience.
- identify strategies to recognize and respond to feelings and emotions in a variety of situations.
- Skills and Procedures:
- Learning Outcome: Children describe personal characteristics and explore feelings and emotions.
- Guiding Question: How can personal characteristics influence feelings and emotions?
- Organizing Idea: Healthy Relationships: Personal well-being is supported through positive relationships built on communication, collaboration, empathy, and respect
- Guiding Questions: What are healthy relationships?
- Learning Outcome: Children examine healthy relationships in learning and playing environments.
- Skills and Procedures:
- Define and practise friendship.
- Discuss the impact healthy relationships have on personal feelings.
- Skills and Procedures:
- Learning Outcome: Children examine healthy relationships in learning and playing environments.
- Guiding Questions: What are healthy relationships?
English Language Arts and Literature
- Organizing Idea: Text Forms and Structures: Identifying and applying text forms and structures improves understanding of content, literary style, and our rich language traditions.
- Guiding Question: How can the organization of ideas and information support the sharing of messages?
- Learning Outcome: Students examine ways that messages can be organized and presented for different purposes.
- Skills and Procedures:
- Create imaginative representations or dramatizations of stories that include characters, setting, and events.
- Skills and Procedures:
- Learning Outcome: Students examine ways that messages can be organized and presented for different purposes.
- Guiding Question: How can the organization of ideas and information support the sharing of messages?
- Organizing Idea: Comprehension: Text comprehension is supported by applying varied strategies and processes and by considering both particular contexts and universal themes.
- Guiding Question: What messages are conveyed through ideas and information within texts?
- Learning Outcome: Students investigate meaning communicated in texts.
- Skills and Procedures:
- Listen to a variety of fictional and informational texts that are read aloud.
- Respond to texts that have been read aloud.
- Retell or dramatize a story, including characters and setting.
- Skills and Procedures:
- Learning Outcome: Students investigate meaning communicated in texts.
- Guiding Question: What messages are conveyed through ideas and information within texts?
Physical Education and Wellness
- Organizing Idea: Character Development: Exploration of life opportunities and virtues develops resilience and personal talents and promotes lifelong learning.
- Guiding Question: How can personal characteristics contribute to self-understanding?
- Learning Outcome: Students examine personal characteristics, feelings, and emotions and explore understanding of self.
- Skills and Procedures:
- Recognize how emotions can be expressed.
- Skills and Procedures:
- Learning Outcome: Students examine personal characteristics, feelings, and emotions and explore understanding of self.
- Guiding Question: How can personal characteristics contribute to self-understanding?
- Organizing Idea: Healthy Relationships: Personal well-being is supported through positive relationships built on communication, collaboration, empathy, and respect.
- Guiding Question: How can connections support healthy relationships?
- Learning Outcome: Students investigate how healthy relationships in learning and playing environments are built through connection.
- Skills and Procedures:
- Explore how healthy relationships help fulfill human needs.
- Practise words and actions that support friendship.
- Skills and Procedures:
- Learning Outcome: Students investigate how healthy relationships in learning and playing environments are built through connection.
- Guiding Question: How can connections support healthy relationships?
Social Studies
1.1 My World: Home, School and Community
- General Outcome: Students will demonstrate an understanding and appreciation of how identify and self-esteem are enhances by their sense of belonging in their world and how active members in a community contribute to the well-being, growth and vitality of their groups and communities.
- Specific Outcomes: Students will:
- 1.1.1 value self and others as unique individuals in relation to their world:
- appreciate multiple points of view, languages, cultures and experience within their groups and communities
- 1.1.2 value the groups and communities to which they belong:
- demonstrate a willingness to resolve issues and/or problems peacefully
- 1.1.1 value self and others as unique individuals in relation to their world:
- Specific Outcomes: Students will:
- General Outcome: Students will demonstrate an understanding and appreciation of how identify and self-esteem are enhances by their sense of belonging in their world and how active members in a community contribute to the well-being, growth and vitality of their groups and communities.
Science
- General Learner Expectations: Students will:
- 1-4 Demonstrate positive attitudes for the study of science and for the application of science in responsible ways.
- Specific Learner Expectations: Students will show growth in acquiring and applying the following traits:
- a sense of responsibility for actions taken
- respect for living things and commitment for their care
Drama
DRAMATIZATION
- develop role-playing skills:
- take on the attitude of another
- emphasize the situation of another
English Language Arts and Literature
- Organizing Idea: Text Forms and Structures: Identifying and applying text forms and structures improves understanding of content, literary style, and our rich language traditions.
- Guiding Question: How can the organization of ideas and information support the expression and understanding of messages?
- Learning Outcome: Students explain how the organization of ideas and information within texts can support the purpose or meaning of messages.
- Skills and Procedures:
- Create imaginative representations or dramatizations of stories that include characters, setting, and plot.
- Skills and Procedures:
- Learning Outcome: Students explain how the organization of ideas and information within texts can support the purpose or meaning of messages.
- Guiding Question: How can the organization of ideas and information support the expression and understanding of messages?
- Organizing Idea: Comprehension: Text comprehension is supported by applying varied strategies and processes and by considering both particular contexts and universal themes.
- Guiding Question: How does comprehension facilitate the meaning of a text?
- Learning Outcomes: Students examine and apply a variety of processes to comprehend texts.
- Skills and Procedures:
- Listen and respond to a variety of fictional and informational texts that are read aloud.
- Retell or dramatize a story, including characters, setting, and plot, in sequence.
- Identify similarities and differences within a text.
- Skills and Procedures:
- Learning Outcomes: Students examine and apply a variety of processes to comprehend texts.
- Guiding Question: How does comprehension facilitate the meaning of a text?
Physical Education and Wellness
- Organizing Idea: Healthy Relationships: Personal well-being is supported through positive relationships built on communication, collaboration, empathy, and respect.
- Guiding Question: How can healthy relationships be portrayed in various contexts?
- Learning Outcome: Students connect healthy relationships to a variety of learning and playing contexts.
- Skills and Procedures:
- Reflect on how personal relationships are maintained or strengthened.
- Practise sharing and listening to ideas of others.
- Skills and Procedures:
- Learning Outcome: Students connect healthy relationships to a variety of learning and playing contexts.
- Guiding Question: How can healthy relationships be portrayed in various contexts?
Social Studies
- 2.1 Canada’s Dynamic Communities
- General Outcome: Students will demonstrate an understanding and appreciation of how geography, culture, language, heritage, economics and resources shape and change Canada’s communities.
- Specific Outcomes: Students will:
- 2.1.1 appreciate the physical and human geography or the communities studied:
- demonstrate care and concern for the environment.
- 2.1.1 appreciate the physical and human geography or the communities studied:
- Specific Outcomes: Students will:
- General Outcome: Students will demonstrate an understanding and appreciation of how geography, culture, language, heritage, economics and resources shape and change Canada’s communities.
Science
- General Learner Expectations: Students will:
- 2-4 Demonstrate positive attitudes for the study of science and for the application of science in responsible ways.
- Specific Learner Expectations: Students will show growth in acquiring and applying the following traits:
- a sense of responsibility for actions taken
- respect for living things and commitment for their care
Drama
DRAMATIZATION
- develop role-playing skills:
- take on the attitude of another
- emphasize the situation of another
English Language Arts and Literature
- Organizing Idea: Text Forms and Structures: Identifying and applying text forms and structures improves understanding of content, literary style, and our rich language traditions
- Guiding Question: How can text organization enhance meaning?
- Learning Outcome: Students relate the form and structure of texts to the communication of ideas and information.
- Skills and Procedures:
- Create imaginative representations or dramatizations of fictional texts that depict understandings of characters, setting, and plot.
- Skills and Procedures:
- Learning Outcome: Students relate the form and structure of texts to the communication of ideas and information.
- Guiding Question: How can text organization enhance meaning?
- Organizing Idea: Comprehension: Text comprehension is supported by applying varied strategies and processes and by considering both particular contexts and universal themes.
- Guiding Question: How can the development of skills and strategies support comprehension of text?
- Learning Outcome: Students analyze text and make connections to personal experiences to support meaning.
- Skills and Procedures:
- Make connections between a text and personal feelings, experiences, or background knowledge.
- Skills and Procedures:
- Learning Outcome: Students analyze text and make connections to personal experiences to support meaning.
- Guiding Question: How can the development of skills and strategies support comprehension of text?
Physical Education and Wellness
- Organizing Idea: Character Development: Exploration of life opportunities and virtues develops resilience and personal talents and promotes lifelong learning.
- Guiding Question: How are roles connected to character development?
- Learning Outcome: Students analyze different roles within varied contexts and examine how roles can support the development of talents, virtues, and resilience.
- Skills and Procedures:
- Identify emotions in a variety of situations.
- Skills and Procedures:
- Learning Outcome: Students analyze different roles within varied contexts and examine how roles can support the development of talents, virtues, and resilience.
- Guiding Question: How are roles connected to character development?
- Organizing Idea: Healthy Relationships: Personal well-being is supported through positive relationships built on communication, collaboration, empathy, and respect.
- Guiding Question: How can problem solving support healthy relationships?
- Learning Outcome: Students investigate and describe how problem solving can affect healthy relationships.
- Skills and Procedures:
- Generate solutions to problems in a variety of relationship contexts.
- Skills and Procedures:
- Learning Outcome: Students investigate and describe how problem solving can affect healthy relationships.
- Guiding Question: How can problem solving support healthy relationships?
Science
- General Learner Expectations: Students will:
- 3-4 Demonstrate positive attitudes for the study of science and for the application of science in responsible ways.
- Specific Learner Expectations: Students will show growth in acquiring and applying the following traits:
- a sense of responsibility for actions taken
- respect for living things and commitment for their care
- Topic B: Building with a Variety of Materials
- General Learner Expectations: Students will: 3-7 Construct structures, using a variety of materials and designs, and compare the effectiveness of the various materials and designs for their intended purposes.
- Specific Learning Expectations: Students will:
- 1. Using a variety of materials and techniques, design, construct and test structures that are intended to:
- serve as models of particular living things, objects or buildings.
- 2. Select appropriate materials for use in constructions tasks, and explain the choice of materials.
- 5. Identify the intended purpose and use of structure to be built, and explain how knowing the intended purpose and use helps guide decisions regarding materials and design.
- 9. Apply skills of listening, speaking and cooperative decision making in working with other students on a construction project.
- 1. Using a variety of materials and techniques, design, construct and test structures that are intended to:
- Specific Learning Expectations: Students will:
- General Learner Expectations: Students will: 3-7 Construct structures, using a variety of materials and designs, and compare the effectiveness of the various materials and designs for their intended purposes.