Empowering Education: How TeachKind Supports Teachers and Schools

TeachKind’s team of former classroom teachers and experts can help you “feed two birds with one scone,” simultaneously fostering compassion for animals (which also cultivates social and emotional learning) and helping students develop academic skills.

Donations, Free Events, Free Teaching Resources

FREE Books

We donate books to schools and teachers according to the needs of their specific grade levels. For example, we recently worked with the Yakima School District in Washington to provide free children’s books that teach lessons in empathy for all their elementary schools, and the response from the district has been overwhelmingly positive.

We recently published our first children’s book (a nonfiction text), Unlocking the Animal World: Incredible Facts and How Kids Can Be Superheroes for Animals by PETA President Ingrid Newkirk, and you can request free class sets for grades 4–6 by e-mailing us at I[email protected]. And you can explore our curated selection of must-read compassionate books that inspire kindness and help build empathy in students.

FREE Food

Have something to celebrate? We’d be happy to work with you to provide free vegan food to introduce your students to delicious options that are kind to animals, the environment, and human health. Think delicious pizza with vegan cheese, sweet dairy-free ice cream, and more. We recently donated vegan ice cream to an elementary school in Norristown, Pennsylvania, for its Parent Faculty Club ice cream social, and it was a real hit!

FREE ‘Meet the Author’ Events

Are you in the New York City area? You can engage your students with a “Meet the Author” program, which includes free books for students, accompanying lessons for teachers, and free scrumptious vegan chicken sandwiches.

FREE Meet-and-Greet With a Scientist

Dr. Katherine Roe is a neuroscientist and the chief of the Science Advancement & Outreach division at PETA. Her presentations are favorites among teachers and students because of her vast knowledge in the field of animal experimentation. She’s available to present virtually to all grade levels.

FREE Virtual Presentations

We know students are interested in vegan living, the impact of animal agriculture on the climate crisis, and animal testing because we hear from scores of them and teachers about these issues every year. Our experts can conduct virtual presentations on these and other topics in ways that easily lend themselves to persuasive writing or research lessons and can jump-start discussions about ethics, animal care, and other subjects. We’d work with you to make sure our presentation would fit with your curriculum and suit the needs of your class.

FREE Assemblies With Robotic Ellie the Elephant or Carly the Cow

Animatronic Carly the cow and Ellie the elephant travel with their own TeachKind tour teams across the U.S., visiting elementary students and teaching them about empathy for all. You can request a free presentation by e-mailing us at [email protected].

FREE Printables and Activities

Access a variety of standards-based printables and engaging lesson ideas on our website and at Teachers Pay Teachers.

Professional Development

Coaching

Our team stands ready to help you plan lessons or review your curriculum map and provide tailored suggestions for incorporating compassion for animals into them at the elementary level.

Training Videos

Our teacher training videos can help you integrate humane education into your pedagogy.

Workshops

TeachKind collaborates with the United Federation of Teachers’ Humane Education Committee to offer virtual and in-person workshops for educators.

Additional Offers

Resources for Replacing Chick-Hatching Projects and Animal Dissection

Discover ways to replace cruel classroom activities—like chick-hatching projects and animal dissection—with projects that align with compassionate education principles. You can apply to take part in TeachKind’s FREE science program to receive humane dissection resources like the Kind Frog™, digital dissection software, virtual reality tools, and anatomical models.

Field Trips, Fundraisers, and Alternatives to ‘Class Pets’

School can be a great place for young people to learn to show compassion for animals and each other—and you have the power to encourage them. Our guide to kind field trips and fundraisers is full of ideas to help you do that, and we’ve created a guide to introducing a class plant instead of a “class pet”—because humans are the only animals who belong in the classroom.

How to Start an Animal Protection Club

You can get guidance on starting and running an animal protection club, including at the elementary level, to promote humane education and student engagement.

Help With Passion Projects

We offer support for passion projects that focus on humane and compassionate topics. Have an idea that you’d love to get off the ground? If it will help animals, we’ll help as much as possible!

Connect With Other Animal-Friendly Teachers

Imagine finding out that there was a teacher nearby who was working just as hard as you to foster empathy for animals in their students. TeachKind frequently connects with educators across the country who are looking for support in teaching kindness and cultivating compassion for animals in their classrooms, and we help connect like-minded educators who teach the same subject or grade or work within the same school district. This unique opportunity allows teachers to unite forces, collaborate, and help make amazing things happen!

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TeachKind knows that schools and educators today are shouldering a heavy weight of complex expectations—and that’s why we’re here to support you. Together, we can help create a kinder world for all. If you need tips or resources or if you want to chat about incorporating compassion for animals into your school or classroom, just e-mail us at [email protected] or connect with us by submitting the form below. We’d love to hear from you!