Did you know that children as young as pre-k face bullying? To teach compassion and tolerance, Karina Vargas, a Pre-Kindergarten teacher in a Spanish Immersion class in Sacramento, engaged her class in an anti-bullying curriculum based around the endangered three-toed sloth. The 19 children learned about the struggles of the sloth and each composed phrases about how they would show compassion to the animal, reminding us all to be generous with our everyday actions. From feeding to friendship, the collection of their thoughts were gathered into a Spanish/English book published by Livie & Luca called “Soy Amable Con Los Perezosos” or “I am Kind to the Sloth”.

This charming little book, illustrated by artist Dean Stuart, has been published in conjunction with our Sloth sneaker, new for the Fall/Winter 20 Collection. The first 500 Sloth shoes sold will receive a copy of “I am Kind to Sloths” in the shoebox.

With this project, we hope to illuminate the wisdom of children, give them a chance to become published writers, and create awareness around anti-bullying and endangered species around the world.

Some final words of wisdom from pre-K teacher, Karina Vargas:

“Having been born in Mexico city and migrating to California at the young age of 3, I’ve felt somewhat displaced, like the sloth from his forest, I love both of my countries and miss them greatly when I’m not in one of them. Since I was a migrant student most of my life from Kindergarten through high school, I was fortunate to experience both education systems and enhanced my culture because of it. Nonetheless, I experienced bullying for not speaking English fluently, for looking different than my classmates, and for coming from a low socioeconomic background. As a child this was difficult, but I’ve come to realize that it’s made me who I am and has empowered me to become a better teacher. I can understand students that are experiencing difficult situations in their life and am able to provide comfort and support for them to stand up for themselves and be proud of who they are. I promote values that will encourage students to be aware of injustice and take action to love one another.”

The lovely Karina

Karina's Class