Teaching With Film: ‘Secrets of the Octopus’ Discussion Questions

If you ask your students what they think about octopuses, you’ll likely get a variety of responses. Some kids may think these animals are cool, while others may think they’re weird—after all, octopuses have been described as “aliens on Earth.” But once they’ve watched Secrets of the Octopus, a new docuseries from National Geographic, they’ll … Read more »

Attention Homeschoolers! Discover TeachKind’s Top Resources for Your Home Classroom

Are you a homeschooler seeking animal-friendly resources for your home classroom? You’ve come to the right place! With TeachKind’s curated list of resources perfect for at-home learning, it has never been easier to “feed two birds with one scone” by teaching foundational lessons that also foster compassion and empathy for animals. TeachKind’s Top Resources for … Read more »

The Silver Spring Monkeys: The Case That Made History for Animals (Grades 9–12)

In this nonfiction reading comprehension worksheet from TeachKind, students in grades 9–12 learn about the groundbreaking Silver Spring monkeys case, including key vocabulary, and answer substantive questions.

Animal-Free Heart Dissection Activities

Give your students the best experience for learning heart anatomy without using animal heart dissections. Here’s how!

PETA Docuseries ‘The Failed Experiment’ Is a Surefire Attention-Grabber

PETA’s docuseries “The Failed Experiment” will capture students’ attention and prove to be a valuable teacher resource for exploring the topic of animal testing.

Edible Eyeball Diorama: A Fun, Humane Eyeball Dissection Activity

Dissecting animals’ eyeballs in the classroom is gross, unethical, and easily replaced with this fun, humane, and edible eyeball dissection option!

Is Animal Dissection Effective? A New Review Has the Answer
Keep Teens Active for Animals All Summer Long With SOS
Free Training: New Social Justice Curriculum for Secondary Educators

Looking to teach about social justice issues but not sure where to start? Join us for a free training session!

© iStock.com/Goja1
Create a Compassionate Word Wall for Every Grade Level

Make a new word wall using these terms, or integrate compassionate words into an existing word wall to promote empathy for all living, feeling beings.

How to Incorporate Animal Rights Into Your Elective Classes

In some schools, elective course subjects extend beyond the standard art or foreign language classes. More and more schools are incorporating a wider range of electives or bonus classes to help diversify student skills and knowledge. Some schools refer to these as “exploratory classes,” and the subject matter often diverges from the typical K–12 academic … Read more »

Teach Students How to Be a Hero for Insects in the Classroom

Model for students what to do when insects or spiders find their way indoors.

Inspire Empathy for All Living Beings With a Gallery Walk

Get students out of their seats and having meaningful discussions about treating all living beings with kindness and respect with this thought-provoking activity.

Teaching With Film: ‘Breaking the Chain’ Discussion Questions

Executive producer Anjelica Huston presents “Breaking the Chain,” a documentary following PETA’s dedicated fieldworkers as they help neglected animals.

Teaching With Film: ‘Seaspiracy’ Discussion Questions

“Seaspiracy” reveals the one thing we can all do to save our oceans and the animals who call them home.

© Seaspiracy
Real-World STEM Lessons: Fighting COVID-19 Without Hurting Animals

Archaic, cruel animal tests won’t help us quickly find a cure for COVID-19. Innovative scientists are doing things differently—and will inspire your students.

Racist N.C. Meat Industry: How Teachers Can Fight Environmental Racism

Connect the dots for your students on environmental racism and the meat industry with this guide from TeachKind.

© iStock.com/pidjoe
Get Inspired to Save Animals With this Fun Outdoor Activity!

Teach students to act responsibly for the planet and all animals.

This TED Talk Will Open Your Students’ Eyes to the Remarkable Similarities Among All Animals

Ecologist and writer Carl Safina shares discoveries and anecdotes about the thinking and feeling capabilities of animals.

Teach Students the Importance of ‘Veganizing’ Their Plates

Show students how easy it is to make every aspect of their meals vegan—with TeachKind.

Analyze Some of PETA’s Most Powerful Ads With Our Executive Vice President

While studying rhetoric and persuasive writing, students can learn from these eye-catching ad campaigns.

2020 in Review: How TeachKind Rallied for Students, Educators, and Animals

In spite of 2020’s obstacles, humane educators continued teaching their students the importance of being kind to animals.

Animal Companions
Lecciones de español y recursos para el aprendizaje de TeachKind

Una colección de recursos de TeachKind en español.

Challenging Speciesism in English Language Arts (Grades 6–12)

Animals are living, feeling beings—not inanimate objects.

Challenging Assumptions: A Social Justice Curriculum

Challenging Assumptions helps teachers educate students about social justice issues in a way that is engaging and inspires them to effect meaningful change in their own communities.

Animal Companions
Debate Kit: Are ‘No-Kill’ Policies Killing Animals?

Students can use this kit to prepare an argument stating that “no-kill” policies at animal shelters have unintended consequences and increase animal suffering.

© iStock.com/mayalain
Joaquin Phoenix: El ‘Joker’ Vegano en Defensa de los Animales (Grados 6-12)

El actor Joaquin Phoenix usa su éxito para crear más conciencia sobre los animales; su historia también puede ayudar a inspirar a tus estudiantes a alzar la voz por los animales.

Joaquin Phoenix: The Vegan Joker in Defense of Animals (Grades 6-12)

Actor Joaquin Phoenix uses his success to raise more awareness for animals—and his story can help inspire your students to speak up, too.

Our Favorite TeachKind Lessons for Summer School!

TeachKind invites summer school educators to supplement their curriculum with our humane education activities and lessons.

Unlearning Speciesism: A Lesson in Media Literacy

Speciesism, the misguided belief that one species is more important than another, is deeply engrained in our society, but it can—and should—be unlearned.

Teaching With Film: ‘The Game Changers’ Discussion Questions

A former UFC fighter discovers an elite group of athletes proving that everything he’d been taught about protein was a lie.

© Game Changers Film, LLC.
Let TeachKind Help You—With Our Virtual Lessons and Activities

While you’re teaching virtually, make use of our array of interactive digital resources.

Attention, Parents! Virtual Learning Resources for Grades K–12

Keep kids learning at home with compassionate lessons.

Enough Is Enough: Current Events Lesson—Understanding COVID-19 and Preventing Future Zoonotic Diseases

Help your students piece together the COVID-19 puzzle and draw their own conclusions.

Help Children Develop Social and Emotional Learning Skills With TeachKind Resources

In this time of self-isolation, students can still hone their social and emotional learning skills with TeachKind resources.

Host a Student-Led Book Club Based on PETA President’s Bestseller ‘Animalkind’

“Animalkind” is a fascinating study of reasons why our fellow sentient beings deserve our respect—and it also suggests steps that every reader can take to put this new understanding into action.

Celebrate National Library Week at Home With TeachKind!

This National Library Week, take advantage of TeachKind’s many literary resources from the comfort of your own home.

Teaching With Film: Meet Scientists Who Choose Not to Experiment on Animals

“Test Subjects” exposes the pressure on young scientists to hurt animals—even when doing so is contrary to good science.

Novel Study: Robin Lamont’s ‘The Chain’ From The Kinship Series

“The Chain” offers a look inside the seemingly opposing worlds of an undercover animal rights investigator and slaughterhouse workers and their families.

Jerry Doris for AuthorSupport
Parents: Digital Dissection for Home Learning

TeachKind’s list of science resources will have your kids learning quickly and humanely at home!

Activities: Other Animals Are Just Like Us (Grades 6-12)

Teach your students to better understand other species— because the more we learn about animals, the more we realize that animals are just like us.

TeachKind Makes It Easy to Teach Empathy in the Classroom

TeachKind offers many free resources to help teachers instill kindness in their students—here’s how your class can take advantage of them.

39 Images and Daily Writing Prompts That Will Help Your Students Develop Empathy for Animals

Help students learn about and relate to animals—and reflect on the animal issues they learn about—on a regular basis.

Grades 6-12 Printables

Use these resources to further students’ understanding of various animal rights issues. The application of this age-appropriate material can promote compassion and empathy for all living, feeling beings. Click on the image to download the file. Click on the text below it to access the corresponding lesson.

Rescue Stories Printables

Use these resources to further students’ understanding of various animal rights issues. The application of this age-appropriate material can promote compassion and empathy for all living, feeling beings. Click on the image to download the PDF file. Click on the text below it to access the corresponding lesson. Grades K-2 Grades 3-5 Grades 6-8 Grades … Read more »

TeachKind Rescue Stories: Teens Save a Suffering Squirrel

Rescue stories reveal the stark reality that many animals face, but their happy endings motivate students to take action, making them ideal for learners of all ages and abilities.

Debate Kit: Is Speciesism Unethical?

All animals deserve rights and equal consideration, and speciesism is an unjustifiable bias. Have students use this kit to explore the reasons why.

Humane Education Lessons for Building Character

With a little creativity, you can teach any positive character trait through humane education.

What’s a Vegan? Activities to Answer This Question for Students of All Ages

Being vegan is simple, but the ethics behind a lifestyle that doesn’t use animals are complex. Use TeachKind resources to explain them to students in easy-to-understand terms.

The Devil’s Dictionary: How Language Can Be Used for Good or Evil

No matter what they call it, using animals in experiments is wrong—period.

DIY: Make Vegan Ice Cream with Your Students

Set aside some time to make vegan ice cream with your students in the classroom.

TeachKind Rescue Stories: Songwriter and Student Save Lamb From Slaughter

Rescue stories reveal the stark reality that many animals face, but their happy endings motivate students to take action, making them ideal for learners of all ages and abilities.

TeachKind Rescue Stories: Hotel Ends Fish-Rental Program

Rescue stories reveal the stark reality that many animals face, but their happy endings motivate students to take action, making them ideal for learners of all ages and abilities.

Fishing: Activities to Teach About the Human Impact on the Environment

Can you imagine oceans with no fish in them? According to some researchers, that might be the situation by 2048 if humans keep eating as many fish as they do now.

Debate Kit: Should the Commercial Seal Slaughter Be Stopped?

The Canadian government should end its funding of the commercial seal slaughter immediately. Have students use this kit to explore the reasons why.

© Sea Shephard Conservation Society
Top 6 Lesson Plans for National Bullying Prevention Month

As mental-health and law-enforcement experts well know, people who demonstrate a blatant lack of empathy by committing violent acts toward animals often go on to harm humans as well.

Debate Kit: Is Animal Agriculture Harmful to the Environment?

Animal agriculture is cruel, unsustainable, and bad for the environment. Have students use this kit to prepare an argument stating how we can help heal our planet by choosing vegan foods.

National Poetry Month Activities: A Literary Celebration for Animals

Poetry can inspire deep emotional responses in students. Teach them to use this genre to express their compassion and to discover and develop their voice for animals.

Plant Seeds of Kindness in Your Students This Spring

Check out these fresh and fun activities to celebrate the season.

© iStock.com/Anastasiia_Guseva
13 Easy Ways to Celebrate a Kind Winter Holiday in Your Classroom

Get a head start on the winter holiday by bringing some animal-friendly cheer to your class!

Animal Companions
Cognitive Dissonance and How We Treat Animals (Grades 6-12)

Why do some people claim to love animals but also eat them? Explore this and other examples of cognitive dissonance with your class.

Animal Companions
Debate Kit: Should All Companion Animals Be Spayed and Neutered?

Spaying and neutering companion animals is vital to ending the animal-overpopulation crisis. Students can use this kit to prepare an argument stating that sterilizing companion animals should be mandatory.

Debate Kit: Should Animals Be Used in Experiments?

Animal testing is ineffective, unethical, and wasteful. Have students use this kit to prepare an argument stating why animals shouldn’t be used for experimentation.

Animal Companions
13 Kind Classroom Ideas for Halloween That Compassionate Teachers Will Love

From teaching Halloween-themed lessons to dressing in costumes and handing out vegan treats, there are many ways to speak up for animals at school this time of year.

Celebrate Earth Day by Saving Animals!

Teach students about the environmental impact of animal agriculture and ways they can work to save the planet and animals with this lesson plan.

Black History Month Activities: Celebrate Civil Rights Leaders Who’ve Stood Up for Humans AND Other Animals

Many civil rights proponents have extended their compassion to animals. Teach your students about the connection they made between struggles.

Debate Kit: Is It Ethical to Eat Animals?

Eating animals is cruel, unsustainable, and unethical. Have students use this kit to prepare an argument stating how we can help animals by making the switch to vegan eating.

This DIY ‘Empathy Ball’ Game Will Be a New Favorite Classroom Icebreaker

Get your students to bond and start thinking about empathy toward animals and each other with this fun activity.

Activities: Women in Leadership and Animal Rights

Meet the woman behind PETA, Ingrid Newkirk, and explore the intersection between women’s rights and animal rights with our free lessons.

Animal Companions
What Winter Is Like When You’re a Chained Dog

Teach students how hard life can be for chained dogs—and show them how they can make a difference for dogs everywhere.

Study Skeletons This Halloween With TeachKind’s Comparative Anatomy Lesson

A comparative study of human and nonhuman skeletal structures reinforces the fact that we’re alike in all the ways that matter most.

Animal Companions
Language Learning Through Humane Education (ESL)

A child’s affinity for animals transcends language

©iStock.com/VictoriaShuba
We Are All Animals: Comparative Anatomy With a Compassionate Twist

Teaching comparative anatomy? Use this video and other resources to remind students that we’re all animals and the same in all the ways that matter!

SeaWorld Kills: Imprisonment in Amusement Parks (Grades 6–12)

Captivity hurts orcas! Introduce students to the hidden lives of orcas used for entertainment.

Iditarod—The Cruelest Race

Use this documentary to introduce your students to the hidden lives of dogs exploited by the dog-sledding industry.

De oveja a suéter—El verdadero precio de la lana

¡Vestir lana lastima a las ovejas! Enséñales a tus alumnos las vidas ocultas de las ovejas usadas para producir lana.

© iStock.com/Nancy Honeycutt
FREE Webinar: Key Element of a Humane Lesson—Help Animals

Create lessons that merge academic skills with compassion—a win-win situation for all.

Debate Kit: Should Marine Mammals Be Held in Amusement Parks?

This kit is an essential tool for helping your students speak up for animal rights, counter opposing viewpoints, and excel in a debate.

© Free Morgan Foundation
Mother’s Day Activities: Let’s Celebrate Animal Moms, Too

There’s nothing quite like a mother’s love. Teach your students how animals cherish their babies.

From Sheep to Sweater—the True Cost of Wool (Grades 6–12, English and Spanish)

Wearing wool means hurting sheep! Introduce students to the hidden lives of sheep who are used for wool.

© iStock.com/Nancy Honeycutt
Humane Science Lessons for Teachers

Meeting curricular goals without harming animals is a win-win situation for students, teachers and schools. Long gone are the days of dissecting formaldehyde-laden animals and stuffing live fish into 2-liter bottles. Because our knowledge of animal sentience has evolved, science educators are increasingly rejecting those lessons in cruelty. Rather than defaulting to archaic animal experiments … Read more »

Help Free Louie the Chimpanzee

No one deserves a life of isolation and deprivation. Your students can make 2016 a year of freedom for chimpanzees in captivity!

How Littering Hurts Animals

No lesson on the proper disposal of waste and recycling would be complete without examining how our trash can hurt animals—and how to prevent harming them.

Remembering Martin Luther King Jr.

Animal rights and human rights are inextricably linked. For this lesson, use Dr. King’s words to inspire your students to speak up for all beings.

Chew on This: Reasons to Go Vegan (Video)

With this short video, get your class thinking about some of the MANY reasons why people choose to go vegetarian.

Research and Discussion Topics for High School Students

Here are some easy ways to get your students thinking about animal rights.

© iStock.com/Jodi Jacobson
Conflict Resolution

Teaching compassion is key to building a more peaceful and kind society. Use this worksheet to help your students embrace differences and respect others.

© iStock.com/franckreporter
Humane Science Projects

Animals are not science projects, and there are better ways to learn about our world! Check out these humane project ideas that your students will love.

© iStock.com/Ababsolutum
Making Kind Choices: Animal Testing

When it comes to buying household products and cosmetics, we all have the choice to say no to cruelty! Empower your students with this lesson on animal testing.

‘Their Future in Your Hands’ (Video)

Introduce students to the animal rights movement with this moving, informative, and empowering video!

© iStock.com/fotokostic
How Your School Can Help Chained Dogs

TeachKind’s “Change for Chained Dogs” pack makes fundraising for animals easy!

Wool Is Cruel: The Truth About Wool (Video)

Teach your students not to be “wooly bullies” with this fun activity.

Where Do Eggs Come From? (Grades 6–12)

Where do eggs in grocery stores REALLY come from? Get students thinking critically about egg production and the lives of chickens!

Mercy for Animals
Help Homeless Companion Animals (Video)

Show your students that their choices can save lives.

Ask SeaWorld to Release Its Prisoners!

Teach your students that captivity is wrong, and have them write to SeaWorld.

FREE TeachKind Materials

TeachKind will send you FREE comic books, activity books, and more.

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