Cherry Lane second graders in Ms. Nicole Santos’ class have been celebrating diversity and acceptance, as part of the schoolwide character education program. For this initiative, students study and practice respect, responsibility, kindness and empathy, among other themes.

Ms. Santos’ class thoroughly enjoyed listening to the read aloud “The World Needs More Purple People” by Kristen Bell and Benjamin Hart. They identified character traits of “purple people,” which included kindness, hardworking, ask a lot of questions, help others and laugh a lot. In addition, students learned that purple people can look different, dress different and eat different. This activity motivated students to demonstrate that they can also be purple people.