Lesson
2
:

Learning Compassion from a Nonfiction Text

Grade

Grade 4

UNIT

6

Compassion

Last Updated:

June 3, 2025

In Unit 6, Lesson 2, “Learning Compassion from a Nonfiction Text,” students will learn an example of compassion from the life of a real person. Additionally, students will practice their reading comprehension skills by hearing a read aloud. Finally, students will create their own sentences that demonstrate their reading comprehension and share their sentences with a partner.

SUGGESTED TIME:

20 minutes

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

  • Hear a read aloud to support reading comprehension 
  • Demonstrate understanding of the main idea of a nonfiction text
  • Compose sentences that demonstrate comprehension of the word compassion 
  • Demonstrate understanding of standard English sentence structure and grammar  
  • Practice reading and conversation skills by sharing sentences with classmates

REQUIRED MATERIALS:

VOCABULARY:

  • Compassion: I see when others are hurt or need help, and I try to help them. 

ELA COMMON CORE STANDARDS MET

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.1

Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.4.4

Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words or phrases in a text relevant to a grade 4 topic or subject area.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.4.5

Describe the overall structure (e.g., chronology, comparison, cause/effect, problem/solution) of events, ideas, concepts, or information in a text or part of a text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.4.8

Explain how an author uses reasons and evidence to support particular points in a text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.10

By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poetry, in the grades 4-5 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.4.1

Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 4 topics and texts, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.4.1.B

Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions and carry out assigned roles.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.4.1.C

Pose and respond to specific questions to clarify or follow up on information, and make comments that contribute to the discussion and link to the remarks of others.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.4.1.D

Review the key ideas expressed and explain their own ideas and understanding in light of the discussion.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.4.1

Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.4.1.F

Produce complete sentences, recognizing and correcting inappropriate fragments and run-ons.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.4.2

Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.4.2.A

Use correct capitalization.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.4.2.D

Spell grade-appropriate words correctly, consulting references as needed.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.4.3

Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.4.3.A

Choose words and phrases to convey ideas precisely.

CHARACTER AND SOCIAL EMOTIONAL (CSED) NATIONAL STANDARDS MET

Moral Character A4

Offer examples of caring and compassionate behaviors (at home, in school, in the community)

Moral Character B3

Provide an example of a friend or role model who “stood up” for what he or she thought was wrong or unfair

Moral Character B4

Provide an example of a friend or role model who demonstrates caring and compassion

Performance Character B1

Provide an example of a friend or role model who demonstrates self-discipline (the ability to forgo instant and immediate gratification for a larger goal or commitment)

Performance Character B2

Provide an example of a friend or role model who is dependable, reliable, and conscientious (responsible)

Performance Character B4

Provide an example of a role model who demonstrates grit (perseverance and passion for a long-term goal)

Intellectual Character A2

Understand the skills (being prepared, focused effort, diligent practice, attention to detail, etc.) that enable someone to acquire or polish a skill

Intellectual Character B4

Demonstrate the ability to analyze data, facts, and information

Civic Character A4

Explain why it is important for everyone to serve and contribute to their family, school, community, nation, globally

Civic Character B1

Describe how a role model exemplifies fairness

Civic Character B2

Describe how a role model exemplifies respect

Civic Character B6

Describe how a role model volunteers and contributes to the common good

LESSON PROCEDURE

  1. Tell students that today they will learn about an important person in American history who showed compassion.
  2. Without providing any context, show students this picture from Florida Memory, the Library and State Archives of Florida.
  3. Ask students what they wonder about when they see this picture.
  4. Tell students that this picture was taken around 1911. It is of Mary McLeod Bethune with a line of students from the school she founded, in Daytona, Florida. She started the school in 1904. 
  5. Let’s learn more about Mary McLeod Bethune. Play video: Mary McLeod Bethune, Civil Rights Activist from Biography (~3 min)
  6. Have students read the nonfiction text on their worksheets quietly to themselves. Circle the room to support the students.
  7. Have students write the answers to the worksheet questions.
  8. Have students share their answers with a partner.

GRADE 4 UNIT 6 WORKSHEET 2: LEARNING COMPASSION FROM A NONFICTION TEXT

Compassion: I see when others are hurt or need help, and I try to help them. 

NONFICTION TEXT: MARY MCLEOD BETHUNE’S COMPASSION

Mary McLeod Bethune was born in 1875 in South Carolina to Samuel and Patsy, who had been enslaved. After the Civil War, her mother worked for her former owner until she could buy the land on which the family grew cotton. By age nine, Mary could pick 250 pounds of cotton a day. 

Mary graduated in 1894 from the Scotia Seminary, a boarding school in North Carolina. Then she became a teacher. She was compassionate and wanted to help others by teaching and opening a new school. In 1904, Mary opened a boarding school in Florida called the Daytona Beach Literary and Industrial School for Training Negro Girls. This school became a college and merged with the all-male Cookman Institute to form Bethune-Cookman College. The college she founded set standards for today’s black colleges. 

Mary worked for racial and gender equality. She founded many groups and led voter registration drives after women gained the vote in 1920. In 1924, Mary was elected president of the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs. In 1936, she became the highest-ranking African American woman in government when President Franklin Roosevelt named her director of Negro Affairs of the National Youth Administration. In 1940, Mary became vice president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), a position she held for the rest of her life. 

Honored with many awards, Mary was celebrated with a statue in Washington DC in 1974 and a postage stamp in 1985. In 2002, Mary became the first African American to have a statue in the National Statuary Hall Collection in the U.S. Capitol. Mary was one of the most important black educators, civil and women’s rights leaders, and government officials of the twentieth century. 

Source: https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/mary-mcleod-bethune

ACTIVITY: 

  1. How did Mary show compassion?

  1. Name one thing Mary did that you find most interesting and explain why.

  1. Why is it important for everyone to serve and contribute to their family, school, community, nation, and globally?

  1. What is one way that you can show compassion?

  1. What is one way that you can show compassion?

Prohuman K-12 Curriculum © 2025 by Prohuman Foundation is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.
To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

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