develop ethical thinking, empathy, social and emotional intelligence

Developing ethical thinking, empathy and emotional intelligence with Ginnie and Pinney – #readilearn

29 Replies

Today it is my pleasure to introduce you to Penny Harris who is launching the first two titles in the Ginnie and Pinney Learn and Grow series of books and videos for young children. The series of eight books encourages the development of ethical thinking, empathy and emotional intelligence. The first two books are Ginnie & Pinney; ‘3, 2, 1 and Here I Come’ and ‘Pinney the Winner’. This interview is part of a Books on Tour promotion. You can find a list of other blogs in the promotion at the end of the post.

About the author Penny Harris

Penny Harris is a multi-national and international award-winning animator, author and multi-media developer. She has worked with the Australian Children’s Television Foundation, Film Victoria as well as a number of Australian universities and institutions.

About the Illustrator Winnie Zhou

Winnie Zhou has a Masters of Multimedia Design from Monash University and is a talented illustrator and multimedia developer. Winnie lives in Melbourne and has worked closely with Penny to develop the series.

About the series Ginnie and Pinney Learn and Grow

The series consists of 8 story books, animated videos, teacher resources and finger puppets; aligns with Australian Early Years Learning Framework; and is consistent with social and emotional learning.

The stories feature Ginnie & Pinney and their friends. Their daily social interactions, concerns and decisions pose dilemmas that model positive self-identity and behaviours: selflessness, persistence, sharing, fairness, inclusiveness, responsibility, accepting difference and learning to say sorry.

The videos, accessed from QR codes supplied on the back of each book, are perfect for display on an interactive whiteboard in the classroom or used on any other digital device at home or at school.

Open-ended questions included at the back of each book can be used to stimulate deep discussion and encourage social and emotional learning.

The series was selected by the Finnish Educational Org.HundrEd, as one of a hundred of the most innovative educational programs for 2020 and was also selected by the Victorian Dept. of Education and Training as a recommended resource for 2020 for their School Readiness Funding program.

The books

Continue reading: Developing ethical thinking, empathy and emotional intelligence with Ginnie and Pinney – readilearn

29 thoughts on “Developing ethical thinking, empathy and emotional intelligence with Ginnie and Pinney – #readilearn”

  1. Mabel Kwong

    This was such a lovely interview with Penny and her work with Winnie on Ginnie and Pinney. So much hard work, thought and research has gone into a book, and a book on emotional intelligence and recognising emotions nonetheless. It’s also great the book has QR books to take interacting the book to next and digital level.

    Thank you for sharing the excerpt on selflessness. I don’t recall having thought that specifically in school, and it’s great there’s a book on character development in some schools. It’s so important for selflessness and respect to be cultivated at a young age so all of us can get along and learn from each other. Empathy can be hard to teach especially when we can’t see thing from another’s point of view. But books like these can certainly teach us how to be more open-minded. Great resources for teachers and the classroom on Readilearn as usual, Norah. Keep up the good work.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓
    1. Norah Post author

      Thank you for adding your thoughts to the post, Mabel. I agree with what you say about the importance of books that help children learn these character-building traits. I think Ginne and Pinney do that remarkably well.

      Like

      Reply ↓
  2. Stine Writing

    From my years of teaching I have found that empathy is so lacking in young people nowadays. They don’t really even know what it is or what it means. Many catch on and agree with “how it works” but it isn’t taught quite enough and at an early enough age.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓
    1. Norah Post author

      I’m not sure if young children nowadays are less empathetic than those of past days but I do agree that we need to do what we can to help them develop it from a young age. Thanks for your comment. I’d love to know a bit more about your teaching background.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply ↓
      1. Stine Writing

        The quick story…9 years Clinical Day with emotionally disturbed/behaviors. 1.5 years High School outplacement for behaviors, 1.5 years middle school behavior classroom where I developed their rewards system, and then 3.5 years high school special education with typical kids. I resigned last year when my son was killed in a motorcycle accident. Before that it was nursery school, day care, special education as a 1:1, reading specialist…

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply ↓
  4. Miriam Hurdle

    Wonderful, Norah. These book are great resources to help young children to identify their emotions and help them develop empathy. I remember reading books on emotions to Autumn, one time, my daughter woke up with a headache and had a tired look. Autumn said, “Mommy is sad.” I was so glad she learned to identify feelings.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply ↓
  5. Patricia Tilton

    It’s always good to see books focus on the social well-being and emotional intelligence of children. I love stories that focus on character development — empathy, fairness, kindness etc. This series is beautifully packaged and sounds very accessible to teachers for classroom use. Thanks for sharing!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓
  7. petespringerauthor

    I am so happy to see curriculum in these areas. Young children are developmentally ready to learn about concepts such as empathy and ethics.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply ↓
  8. calmkate

    wow technology has come a long way … videos accessed by codes on books!

    These are topics I’ve often felt were neglected in my education so very glad to hear that these issues are being addressed 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓

I appreciate your feedback. Please share your thoughts.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.