"Tia feels good because she helped someone today. She feels an especially warm glow knowing how well she handled her emotions, even when things got a little nuts!"

In the bustling labyrinth, Tia embraces her role as a caretaker, cleaning wind-blown debris. When the squirrel family loses their winter nuts to a gusty whirlwind, Tia transforms her emotions into action. After she rallies the community, they unite to recover the scattered nuts, leaving the labyrinth filled with gratitude, high-fives, and the beauty of kindness.

In this lesson, students learn what empathy means and why it's important. Through interactive activities and role-play, they practice recognizing emotions in others by noticing facial expressions and body language. Students explore kind and caring responses they can use to support someone who feels sad, frustrated, or left out. The story Tia Takes Charge helps students connect empathy to real-life problem-solving as Tia manages her emotions and gathers others to support a friend in need.