Kindness 101: Building caring citizens through Roots of Empathy

Tiny Teachers…

Grace Thomas, a Grade 4 student at R.L. Beattie Public School, welcomes Baby Alivia Harris to the Rainbow District School Board Roots of Empathy Celebration.

Micayla Matt, a Grade 4 student at R.L. Beattie Public School, enjoys playing with Baby Alivia Harris at the Rainbow District School Board Roots of Empathy Celebration.

Rainbow District School Board Chair Tyler Campbell, Executive Director of Our Children/Our Future, meets Baby Aiden Draper-Morrison along with parents Stephanie-Ann Draper and Ian Morrison at the Roots of Empathy Celebration held on June 8th, 2010 at R.L. Beattie Public School.

Hailed as “one of the most promising anti-bullying programs” in the May 24th, 2010 edition of Time Magazine, Roots of Empathy continued to build caring citizens in Rainbow Schools. The character development initiative, presented by Rainbow District School Board in partnership with Our Children, Our Future, was delivered in Grade 4 classrooms throughout Sudbury, Espanola and Manitoulin.

Each participating class adopted a baby who visited the classroom, along with his/her parent and a trained Roots of Empathy instructor, once a month for the entire school year. As the children observed the parent-infant interaction and followed the baby’s development, they learned how infants grow and develop.

According to Time Magazine, Roots of Empathy has taught 315,000 children in four countries since being founded in 1996 in Canada. “It reached 50,000 children in some 2,000 classrooms this academic year,” states the article. “To date, nine independent studies have shown that ROE schools experience ‘reduced aggression’ and ‘increased prosocial behavior’ among students.”

Rainbow District School Board Chair Tyler Campbell, who is the Executive Director of Our Children/Our Future, agrees that the Roots of Empathy babies are tremendous teachers. “When students develop empathy, they gain an appreciation of the uniqueness of each individual, their opinions, beliefs and contributions. They gain respect and other important values,” he said.

During the school visits, a number of themes are explored including meet the baby, crying, caring and planning for baby, emotions, sleep, safety, communicating, who am I?, and good bye and good wishes. With each classroom visit, students learned empathetic responses to the baby’s temperament, facial cues and feelings.

“Our mission is to develop and promote innovative and sustainable community resources that nurture healthy children, healthy families and healthy communities,” said Chair Campbell. “The focus of Roots of Empathy in the long term is to build capacity for the next generation for caring and compassionate citizenship and parenting.”

The program is designed to foster the development of empathy; to develop emotional literacy; reduce levels of bullying, aggression and violence; increase knowledge of human development, learning, and infant safety; and prepare students for responsible citizenship and responsive parenting.

“Roots of Empathy reaches minds and touches hearts, the very foundation of everything that we do in Rainbow Schools,” said Jean Hanson, Director of Education for Rainbow District School Board.  “Roots of Empathy has proven to be an effective way of developing positive student behaviour. The program builds caring, peaceful, and civil societies through the development of empathy in children.”

She added: “Character development is an integral part of everyday learning and life in Rainbow Schools. All school initiatives are designed to enhance educational opportunities for students by setting high levels of student achievement, reducing gaps in student achievement, and building increased confidence in publicly funded education.”

Empathy is among the 10 character traits adopted by Rainbow District School Board, along with honesty, respect, responsibility, integrity, courtesy, resilience, acceptance, courage and co-operation. These character attributes, being modelled, taught and expected in Rainbow Schools, will provide the foundation for ongoing character development in the coming school year.

Parents expecting children in the next few months are invited to get involved in Roots of Empathy this fall. It’s important that babies be no more than three months when family visits begin in September. Students will watch the babies grow throughout the school year. For more information, parents can contact Empathy Co-ordinator Charlotte Miller at Our Children, Our Future at 677-0440, ext. 228.

Roots of Empathy reaches minds and touches hearts…


From Stephanie-Ann Draper and Ian Morrison

ROE parents with Aiden at R.L. Beattie Public School

“It has been an incredibly rewarding experience to be able to share and celebrate our baby’s milestones with a group of children from our community. Each milestone became a teaching experience, and our facilitator Marilyn was fantastic in educating the students about their emotions by using the baby’s cues as a starting point for discussion.  The students were engaged, attentive and excited by the opportunity to have an interactive learning experience.  Their enthusiastic questions and their ability to recall details from previous visits confirmed the impact of the program.  We witnessed the unlocking of an instinctual empathy that a person of any age has for a helpless baby.  It shows how beneficial it is to introduce programs like this at a young age. We can’t wait until our son is old enough to have a Roots of Empathy baby in his classroom!”

From Tannys Laughren

ROE parent with son Harry at MacLeod Public School

“Harry and I started Roots of Empathy in September.  It has been nothing but a positive experience and one of which I have been honoured to be a part. This program has not only introduced me to a great group of kids, it has also allowed me to see the importance of my positive relationship with my child.  Harry has loved every minute of it, and to see his development through the eyes of the kids in the classroom has been illuminating and

refreshing. These kids are our future and I believe that they will absolutely contribute to a caring, peaceful and civil society.”

From Liza Kokko

ROE parent with son Rhys at Long Lake Public School

“The students are so excited when they see Rhys come into the building. From one end of the school to the other you can hear shouts of ‘baby Rhys, baby Rhys is here’ and they all come running. Rhys is always full of smiles when he visits and he seems to try to sit in everyone’s lap at least once each visit. It is amazing to see how gentle the students are with him, even more so last fall when he was still so small. I believe the ROE program is a huge benefit to younger students, especially those whose mothers are expecting a new baby. It teaches them that babies are wonderful little people, but they are fragile and need to be protected from the world until they are big enough to understand how to protect themselves.”

From Anne Giffin

ROE Instructor, Charles C. McLean Public School

“I was canvassing for the Heart and Stroke and went to the home of one of the little boys in the group. His dad gave me a donation saying that he was sorry but this was all he had. The little guy said ‘just a minute’, ran into his room, and came back with a twenty-dollar bill, which he gave me for the fund.  He told me he learned that it was a good thing to help people if you could and that I had taught him this in Roots of Empathy.  I almost cried. This is a perfect example of Roots stretching beyond the classroom and into the community. Did I take the money?  I wanted to respect his wishes, but knowing the situation in the household, I thanked him, hugged him, and returned it after checking my book and telling him you had to be 18 to donate to this cause.  Was that the right thing to do?  I don’t know. But what I do know was that he did the right thing and I will never forget that gesture.”

From Barb Jeffery

Grade 4 teacher, Alexander Public School

“Roots of Empathy has been an excellent opportunity for learning in my classroom for the past two years.  I often sing its praises to parents, colleagues and teachers in other schools. The two instructors in my classroom are professional and sensitive people who engage my students in learning about our baby, his family and themselves. There have been many opportunities to integrate learning into many areas of the curriculum, including Language Arts, Character Education, Health, and Mathematics. I am looking forward to having the program in my classroom next year.”

From Amanda Roy,

ROE Instructor, Little Current Public School

“One of my co-workers just had a baby in February and a child in my Roots of Empathy class lives across the street from her. When he found out that she was expecting, he would go over on a regular basis to tell her what he had just learned in Roots of Empathy. February came and this baby girl was welcomed into the world. He could not be more excited. He was one of the first in line to meet her and was so proud that he got to hold her and even has had the chance to give her a bottle. He still goes over regularly to share what he has learned and to make sure that everything is going well and to get his chance to play with the baby and practice what he has learned. It continues to amaze me to learn how much an hour a week can foster this love and empathy for others even before they are born.”

Nancy Ansamaa-Friesen

ROE Instructor, Carl A. Nesbitt Public School, R.H. Murray Public School,

Princess Anne Public School, Copper Cliff Public School

“During our theme on emotions, we were discussing empathy scenarios. The class was broken into groups, each with their own scenario and asked to state three things – how the person in the example might feel and why, a way to help the individual, and a personal connection to the situation. One scenario asked: ‘If a new student came into your class, how would that student feel?’ The following personal connection given by a boy in Grade 4 is one of the best examples of what the Roots of Empathy program can do. He said: ‘I was the new kid and everyone didn’t like me until Ben (ROE baby) came up to me.’”

From Marilyn Leblanc

ROE Instructor, Levack Public School, R.L. Beattie Public School

“When I first started this year, I was told by the teacher that we had a boy who is very inattentive and he usually will end up doing other things during our Roots class and that we need to allow him to do these things. So, during my first theme, he was not attentive but would sneak peaks at me during my lessons and during the family visit he was on the outskirts and very quiet. He slowly looked more at me during the theme three pre-visit. During the theme three family visit, he was sitting much closer to the blanket when the baby rolled his way and smiled and reached for him. He did not move, but I noticed the tiny smile he gave her. After this visit, he was putting his hand up and answering questions and being part of the class. During my family visit for theme four, he was the first child on the edge of the blanket. He has been like this the whole time since and he loves our baby and he touches her now and rolls the balls back to her. This was the best moment for me.”

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Media Contact:

Nicole Charette, Senior Advisor,

Corporate Communications and Strategic Planning,

Rainbow District School Board, 705.674.3171, ext. 7217.