WORRY MONSTERS

Toothpaste Heart

I am your very own worry monster, and I will always be here; When worries pop into your head, don’t let them turn to fear. Take a piece of paper and make sure you write it down; put the worry in my mouth and watch me gobble it down.”

Fourth and fifth grade students learn that words are powerful—they can make a person feel amazing or they can make a person feel really hurt. Once words are spoken, kind or unkind, they are forever imprinted on the heart. After reading the book Mr. Peabody’s Apples, by Madonna, they learn that sometimes it is impossible to undo the damage that rumors can cause. To make this lesson more concrete, children worked in groups to squeeze toothpaste onto a heart and worked hard to do the impossible: put all of the toothpaste back into the tube. Just like gossip, rumors, and lashon hara (negative talk), once it’s said it’s said: it’s near impossible to take it back. Students see that even when you apologize or try to make something better, you cannot ever completely erase the hurt of those “sticky” unkind words. They are stuck to the heart and there is a lasting effect.

Students working on an Empathy Escape Room, solving empathy-themed puzzles to earn empathy hearts and "unlock themselves."