From Storytime to Heart Time: Cultivating Classroom Cultures of Care
I’ve always believed that how we read to children is just as powerful as what we read. A well-told story doesn’t just spark imagination; it invites children to feel something. To step into someone else’s shoes. To name emotions. To begin seeing themselves as part of a bigger, more compassionate world.
And that’s what I mean when I say story time becomes heart time.
It’s not just about the plot or the characters. It’s about the pause we take when we ask, “How do you think they felt?” It’s in the wide eyes of a child realizing that sadness looks like furrowed brows, or that kindness can be quiet, like sharing crayons or making room on the carpet. These small teaching moments build something deeper than vocabulary. They grow empathy.
The Stories We Tell... and the Stories We Reinforce
We may not realize it, but every time we read a story aloud, we’re shaping a narrative not just about the characters, but about who our children are.
That’s why the stories we choose, and how we follow up on them, matter. When we give children stories where feelings are spoken aloud, where mistakes are gently corrected, and where characters grow, we create a mirror for our students to see the same possibilities in themselves (Isbell et al., 2004).
But it doesn’t stop at read-aloud.
Those quick classroom moments, like asking a child to help comfort a classmate, or having a kindness jar where students recognize one another, those are where the lessons take root. The more we thread kindness through our daily routines, the more we affirm the messages of the stories we tell.
We are, in essence, teaching them:
You belong.
Your feelings matter.
You are someone who cares, helps, and listens.
From One Ripple to Another
It doesn’t take grand gestures to grow a culture of care.
It’s in the sticky notes of encouragement on cubbies.
The surprise compliment on a classmate’s drawing.
The pause before we respond, when we truly listen.
Empathy grows in those moments, between the pages, in the hallway transitions, at the playdough table.
According to the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), integrating emotional learning into daily interactions can support children in developing empathy, cooperation, and responsible decision-making skills (CASEL, 2020).
So the next time you gather your little ones for storytime, know this:
You’re not just building literacy.
You’re building a legacy.
And that’s the heart of what we do.
📌 References:
Isbell, R., Sobol, J., Lindauer, L., & Lowrance, A. (2004). The Effects of Storytelling and Story Reading on the Oral Language Complexity and Story Comprehension of Young Children. Early Childhood Education Journal, 32(3), 157–163.
Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). (2020). What is SEL? Retrieved from https://casel.org/what-is-sel/
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