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We would like to give a big THANK YOU to Mr. & Mrs. Mailloux for bringing their Baby Lakin to our classroom each month for a visit this school year. Watching Lakin grow and develop we have been able to see what is special about him, and that leads us to consider what is special about each one of us.This is how the Roots of Empathy program fosters the ideas of empathy for others and being good citizens ourselves. Thank you for letting us watch Lakin grow and develop, and for demonstrating the importance of baby’s 1st year and the value of caregiver attachment.

This program fosters the development of empathy through discussion and activities in subjects including literature, math, music, art and science. Once a month, a baby and his/her mom, will join the Grade 2 Class.  Under the facilitation of the Instructor, the students will watch the baby’s growth and development and predict what he/she will be able to do by the next visit. The students will measure, weigh and observe the many developmental milestones such as reaching for a toy, rolling over, sitting up, and perhaps crawling. The students will be learning child development in a very concrete way as it unfolds in front of them and as they share observations of ‘their’ baby at play. As we watch the baby’s development over the year we will also be learning about empathy through our observations.

The students in learn about different theme every week; such as ‘Emotions’. We all share the same feelings, and can help others who are feeling sad or mad. We can also help ourselves by telling others about our feelings.

(ROE) is an award winning, evidence-based classroom program that has shown dramatic effect in reducing levels of aggression and violence among school children while raising social/emotional competence and increasing empathy. The program reaches children from Kindergarten to Grade 8 across Canada, in English and French, in rural, urban, remote and Aboriginal communities both on and off reserve and internationally in Australia, New Zealand, and the United States.

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