Henry and Ella's Big Jar of Kindness

Name: Henry and Ella's Big Jar of Kindness
Author: Audrey Lane

A story that explores friendship and opens a conversation with your child.

★★★★★ Loved by families

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♥ This book teaches: Friendship. showing up for someone else.

Before, During & After Reading

Guiding Questions for Parents.

Definition: A friend is someone you like spending time with because they make you feel happy and special, and help you when you need it. In short: Build bonds that last forever. Summary: Henry and Ella are siblings who argue about a TV show. Grandpa has a remedy - he encourages them to team up and fill a jar with acts of kindness written on slips of paper. The kids are overwhelmed by the immense size of the jar until they get some practical advice from Old Darwin the dog about being kind. The rest of the book is an entertaining and helpful account of all the acts of kindness performed by Henry and Ella. Lesson Objectives:

Students will be encouraged to work together to create an Acts of Kindness wall (a display chart in the shape of a jar) in their classroom. They follow the steps in the book, and when it’s filled up, they are rewarded.
Teachers reinforce the lesson of resolving conflict through cooperation. Students are taught skills to help them discuss issues of conflict and come to an agreement that satisfies both - not an easy task, but worth the effort.

Guiding Questions:

What did Henry and Ella have a conflict about and how did they solve it?
Why did the Grandpa clean out the big pickle jar?
Were Henry and Ella excited by the challenge at first? Why or why not?
What were some of the acts of kindness the siblings did at home?
What were some of the acts of kindness Henry did at school?
What advice did Ms. Cupcake give Ella?
Ask your family to participate in an Acts of Kindness adventure. Find a big jar, paper and pencils, and explain the adventure to your family.
Make a list of 10 Acts of Kindness you can do at home and do them!
Make a list of 10 Acts of Kindness you can do at school and do them!
Why do you think it’s good to be kind?

🌿 Virtue Connection: Friendship means showing up for someone else, consistently.

Activities for This Story.

Resource: Henry and Ella's Big Jar of Kindness

Activity: After viewing the video, students begin a “Big Jar of Kindness" activity that goes on for a period of time ( a week/month/all year) with rewards when they reach a goal.

Materials needed: the resource video (on this website); a very large paper jar displayed in the classroom on which students can post their acts of kindness; a list of the various acts of kindness mentioned in the book and suggested by students (also displayed so students can refer to it for spelling and ideas); slips of paper or post-its that students can write/draw on

Directions: Introduce the activity with the video. Explain the method you want to use for students to add their act of kindness post-its to the jar, and let them know what the reward will be once they’ve achieved ___ (number) of acts of kindness.

Wrap it up: “This will be exciting to see what you come up with for acts of kindness here at school, at home, and in the community when you’re out and about. Rules: don’t make it up, and only write it down if you’ve done it. During the next couple of weeks, we’ll make time to talk about how it’s going. Let’s have fun with this!”

About the Story.

This guide is part of the Values & Virtues library, a free collection of 400+ book guides and activities organized around 12 core virtues for children from pre-K to 6th grade. Each guide includes Guiding Questions designed to open a real conversation with your child in 10 minutes or less.

Read-aloud video · Best with headphones

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Guiding Questions

Students will be encouraged to work together to create an Acts of Kindness wall (a display chart in the shape of a jar) in their classroom. They follow the steps in the book, and when it’s filled up, they are rewarded.
Teachers reinforce the lesson of resolving conflict through cooperation. Students are taught skills to help them discuss issues of conflict and come to an agreement that satisfies both - not an easy task, but worth the effort.

Guiding Questions:

What did Henry and Ella have a conflict about and how did they solve it?
Why did the Grandpa clean out the big pickle jar?
Were Henry and Ella excited by the challenge at first? Why or why not?
What were some of the acts of kindness the siblings did at home?
What were some of the acts of kindness Henry did at school?
What advice did Ms. Cupcake give Ella?
Ask your family to participate in an Acts of Kindness adventure. Find a big jar, paper and pencils, and explain the adventure to your family.
Make a list of 10 Acts of Kindness you can do at home and do them!
Make a list of 10 Acts of Kindness you can do at school and do them!
Why do you think it’s good to be kind?

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Henry and Ella's Big Jar of Kindness

Guiding Questions for Parents.

Activities for This Story.

About the Story.

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Henry and Ella's Big Jar of Kindness

Guiding Questions