Fourth Grade Explores Empathy and Multicultural Perspectives

On a beautiful fall day this past week, the fourth grade took to the outdoors to find a quiet spot to do some writing. As the fourth grade learns about the Lenape's first contact with Europeans, they are also exploring how they themselves have adapted to change while exploring the new and unknown in their own lives.

We have started the process with the students by engaging them through writing their own personal experiences and stories. How did they feel about change? What did it mean to them? Looking back, how did the experience change them and their perspectives? As they wrestle with their own stories, we are asking them to imagine what might be true for someone else during another time period when people were faced with 

change.  

They are learning to ask questions about others' experiences. During a class read aloud of the book The Lenape Indians by Josh Wilker, they will discover what happened to the Lenape people when the Dutch and Swedes came to Lenepahocking. They will be asked to think about what they discover and whether it was fair. 

The questions being asked spiral from self related, to other and group related. This experience of questioning empowers students to reach into the past, to empathize with what others from another time period experienced when change was thrust upon them. It also supports their understanding of how events that happened in the past were not beneficial to everyone.