January Theme: Choosing Love

In the month of January, we will focus on Choosing Love by extending compassion. Scientists, from Charles Darwin to contemporary neuroscience researchers, have found that human beings are wired for compassion. Compassion is the understanding of a problem or the suffering of another and acting to solve the problem or alleviate the suffering. When a person thinks in a compassionate manner, they activate the neurochemistry of kindness, which begins with the release of the peptide hormone oxytocin (Meyer-Lindenberg, Domes, Kirsch, & Heinrichs, 2011). The “compassion” exercises activate the neuro-dominoes of compassion, beginning with oxytocin. Oxytocin then activates dopamine and serotonin, which contribute to feelings of happiness and optimism.

The activities that we will focus on school wide in the month of January will help students make choices that benefit their minds, hearts, bodies, and relationships. Students apply their empathy and communication skills to support one another through compassionate action. This improves students’ problem-solving and decision-making abilities. When a school culture includes compassion, the entire school community feels cared for and shares a sense of belonging. Practice small acts of compassion can make a big difference.

During the month of January, our school family will build this practice of compassion by:

• Identifying the many benefits of compassion
  
• Identify the steps of showing compassion
• Identify examples of showing compassion
• Understand that they can show themselves compassion
• Demonstrate compassionate responses in common scenarios
• Use compassion to help make decisions

Below are sentence stems that can be used as discussions starters to help students practice the skills and concepts of compassion at home:

“To me, compassion is...”

“I show compassion at school by...”

“I show compassion at home by...”

“I show compassion in my community by...”