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Ideas for propagating basic human kindness. Want to encourage kindness on campus? Access our free Teacher's Guide, lesson plans, activity ideas, teachers' experiences, and other materials to help you successfully incorporate kindness into your school.

Rockliff, Mara. Get Real: What Kind of World are YOU Buying? Philadelphia, PA: Running Press Kids, 2010. Age Range: 10 and up Publisher's Description: Rockliff outlines how mass consumerism is harming our planet, and specifically how teens can use their purchasing power to enact change. She cites examples of products that teens use frequently (high-tech electronics, clothing, junk food, etc.) and explains how their production often harms the people who make them, the environment, and, potentially, the end consumer. She explains that a chocolate bar was most likely made with cacao beans harvested by exploited workers, and that a cell phone contains enough heavy metals to seriously harm our groundwater. She covers (un)fair labor practices, environmental pillaging, factory farming, excessive marketing, local vs. corporate stores, and the pervasive throwaway mentality that drives the whole cycle. The author's in-your-face approach makes her points while still engaging readers-she is never didactic or overbearing. She encourages teens to make a difference in their world by making small changes to things they do already-buying fair-trade chocolate or saving up for an organic cotton T-shirt. The pop-art illustrations are clever and illustrative of many points. The impressive bibliography provides lists of documentaries, websites, books, articles, and other sources to help teens find out how their favorite products came to be (and came to be so cheap). Learning more about how these products are made just might make some teens think twice about their buying habits.

Patricia Zimmerman Johnson, Happy Humanitarian Helpers (Bloomington: XLIBRIS, 2012). Age Level: 7 and up Publisher Description: Happy Humanitarian Helpers is a story of six students from different backgrounds. They form a bond through their desire to help people. This compassionate group of children devotes their time and talents to making a difference in the lives of others. These inspirational individuals developed a mission statement: Whatever we do, we choose to do it with kindness; for it is in giving that we receive. The Happy Humanitarian Helpers hope their acts of kindness inspire others.

This project seeks to transform our classrooms and schools by transforming the way teachers are trained. Future teachers gain direct experience with global learning networks as they engage in dialogue with their peers about teaching in the 21st century. The Future Teachers forum is a meeting place for university professors of education and the future teachers in their classes. Three kinds of discussions take place: 1) future teachers from around the world compare perspectives on creating effective and equitable schools and classrooms that will better meet the needs of all students, 2) future teachers share their reflections as they learn first-hand about iEARN's projects as facilitators, observers, or participants, and 3) professors of teacher education exchange ideas and resources for integrating global learning networks into their courses in different content areas. The Future Teachers Project was launched during the 1999 iEARN annual conference in Puerto Rico and has been developed collaboratively during subsequent iEARN conferences to offer future teachers direct experience with innovative technology use and global learning early in their careers.

Do you want to help the environment and keep you, your family and your friends healthy? With EcoKids you can! There are all kinds of ways for kids to take action, and every couple months we'll show you two new ones. They're fun, they're easy, and they help make the planet a little greener. Every bit helps, so take action today!

Lizzy Rockwell, Good Enough to Eat: A Kid's Guide to Food and Nutrition (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2009). Age Level: 4 and up Publisher Description: Good Enough to Eat is one of a kind: the only guide to kids' nutrition written especially for kids. A practical, hands-on tool for families who want to eat a healthy diet, this book explains nutrition from carrots to cookies.

Gail Gibbons, The Vegetables We Eat (New York: Holiday House, 2008). Age Level: 5 and up Grade Level: K and up Publisher Description: Who knew there were so many different kinds of vegetables? From glossy red peppers to lush, leafy greens to plump orange pumpkins, vegetables are explored in depth in this fascinating picture book that clearly explains the many vegetable varieties, how they are grown, and why they are so good for us to eat.