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5 Short Videos for Teaching Students About What It Means to Be Transgender

by Marsha Rakestraw In a recent memo, the Trump administration has argued for US government agencies to adopt an “explicit and uniform definition” of gender that would “define sex as either male or female, unchangeable, and determined by the genitals a person is born with.” As the New York Times reports, this proposed definition would…

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bags

Humane Education and Math: Reusable vs. Plastic Bags

by Institute for Humane Education As part of our educator professional development, we encourage teachers to start infusing humane education into their classrooms by finding small ways to tweak their lessons. After learning more about the impact of plastic bags, high school math teacher Tristan Bates decided to whip up a fun little activity for his…

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humane education

3 Sources for Funding Your Humane Education Project

by Marsha Rakestraw Many a great changemaking idea has been stifled by the challenge of finding funding. In the past, options were limited and often a bit complicated. But with the exponential growth of our digital world, it’s becoming a bit easier to gain traction in financing smaller projects. Here are three sources to help…

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halloween dogs

Tips for a More Compassionate, Earth-friendly, Healthy Halloween

by Marsha Rakestraw According to the National Retail Federation, people in the US are planning to spend about $9 billion dollars on Halloween in 2018, an average of almost $87 per person. That’s a lot of candy corn and plastic fangs. And the biggest growth trend is in pet costumes. There are numerous reasons to…

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19 Lists of Children’s Picture Books for Your Humane Education Classroom

by Marsha Rakestraw Children’s books are a terrific tool for sharing positive values, teaching students (in age-appropriate ways) about global ethical issues, and inspiring them to take positive action. They are a powerful part of any classroom and curriculum. Here’s a round-up of 19 of our lists of suggested children’s picture books on a variety…

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school garden

8 Resources for Greening Your Schoolyard

by Marsha Rakestraw You only have to watch kids in a garden or park to know that we humans have a special connection with the natural world. Studies have shown that we benefit physically, emotionally, and mentally (including academically) from our interactions with nature. Yet except for a hemmed-in tree here or there, or a…

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plastic pollution

I Taught Kindergarteners About Plastic Pollution, and They Are Eager to Be Part of the Solution

by Elizabeth O. Crawford, Ph.D. During Earth Week 2018, I was a guest presenter to kindergarteners attending Island Montessori School (IMS) located in the beautiful, coastal town of Wilmington, North Carolina. As teacher educators often remark, classroom visits rejuvenate and inspire our work preparing the next generation of educators. When we spend time with children…

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9 Resources for Finding Children’s Books with Humane Themes

by Marsha Rakestraw Children’s literature is often a reflection of society (and sometimes an influencer). As we humans continue to make progress in doing more good and less harm and in striving to create a better world, we’re seeing more books for children that explore and celebrate those themes. Although we can search online for…

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sea lions

Building Empathy and Critical Thinking: A Lesson About Animals

by Zoe Weil A few years ago at our Summer Residency for educators at the Institute for Humane Education, teacher and IHE grad Betsy Messenger created a lesson on animal issues that was so effective and powerful, I wanted to share it with you. She gathered our group outside and “borrowed” my dogs, whose only…

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A smiling student working on a laptop with a wall full of math symbols behind her

Activities That Integrate Math and Humane Education

by Marsha Rakestraw If you’re as old as I am, you probably remember math word problems asking you about the speed and direction of trains. Or geometry problems that asked you to calculate areas of objects drawn on paper. Or probabilities focused on dice roles. If you were lucky, you might have gotten to explore…

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