A Big New World of Emotions
Last week in Dolphin class, we dove into the fascinating world of emotions. We started our journey by sharing different feelings and how they show up in our bodies. We gathered in a circle and talked about times when we felt happy, sad, excited, or even a little scared. To help us understand these feelings better, and recognise emotions in those around us, we dedicated a number of circle times to exploring the subject as a group and naming emotions as a team. Our first game involved listening to clues to come up with the emotion the animals and 'monsters' were feeling. One example was a chicken who was smiling and laughing and feeling a positive emotion. We were able to shout out that the chicken was feeling happy! Another game involved studying photos of children's faces and guessing what they were feeling. Moving on and once we were able to act out a variety of emotions, we tried out an acting game. Volunteers came up to the front of the class to pick out an emoji card at random. They had to keep it a secret and only tell the other dolphins which card they had by using their facial expression or non-verbal acting skills.
We have also been reading a variety of books on the topic of feelings, discussing plot points as we progress through each story. Below I have provided some of the books we have been reading in class. At this stage of development, our little dolphins are working through a whole sleuth of emotions and are learning to both regulate and express them in equal measure. We are on a whole emotional path where each step is an important learning curve. A linked chain can be made from recognising emotions (in themselves and others), to expressing emotions, understanding social situations, deploying coping strategies, understanding boundaries and onto building more in depth relationships.
I also wanted to share some tips for supporting emotional development at home
- Model emotional expression: Use clear language to express your own feelings and encourage children to to do the same.
- Read books about emotions: Choose stories that explore different feelings to help children identify and discuss emotions
- Create a safe space: Provide an environment where children feel safe to express their emotions without judgement
- Encourage play: Offer opportunities for imaginative play, where children can explore various emotions and scenarios.
From One Unit to the Next...
As our Who We Are unit is a year long enquiry, we will be moving onto our new unit Sharing the Planet. We will continue to dip into Who We Are as needed throughout the school year and a Who We Are report will be available at the end of Term 3.
AM Dolphins Discussion:
PM Dolphins Discussion:
To round up our unit, we discussed as a group some of the things that we can do already, and some things that we would like to learn. One of the discussion points that came up in both the AM and PM classes was to learn to cook something. We had planned to make 'mini me' pizzas using cookie cutters to mark out the shape of a person. Unfortunately, we soon found to cut through the tortilla was quite a feat! We pivoted and made half pizzas, discussing what we needed to do to make them, what our favourite toppings were and whether we eat pizza at home. Some of us decided to eat our pizzas fresh out the oven, whilst others decided to take theirs home. A small group decided on doing a bit of both! We will have one more day of pizza cooking this week so don't worry if your child hasn't had a turn yet!
After washing our hands thoroughly with soap and water, we were ready to start cooking! Our first step was to spread tomato sauce all over our pizza base, covering as much of the space as we could.
Next, we took a healthy helping of ready grated cheese and began sprinkling it over the tomato sauce. We had to make sure we spread it out so that we weren't left with a mountain of cheese in the middle.
Our final preparation step was choosing our toppings. We could choose ham, corn, both, or neither! Once this was complete, it was time to pop our pizzas in the oven with the help of our teachers. Now was the tricky part, waiting for them to cook!
Our final stage was a big hit: eating the pizza!
Sharing the Planet
This week we began venturing into our new unit: Sharing the Planet where we will be focusing on developing our curiosity about the world around us. Over the coming weeks, we will be exposed to a variety of different 'living things' and environments to ascertain what our biggest interest areas as a class are, whether that's animals, dinosaurs, outer space or plant life. As we began learning about how our own bodies are growing and how we can care for ourselves and others, we will begin this unit by transferring these skills to the study and care of growing plants. Our classroom has been transformed into a variety of plant focused stations to spark off our imaginations and curiosities.
At our creation station, we are experimenting with a cooperative art piece. Our easels have been wrapped up in a sticky clear sheet and a variety of natural materials including feathers, wooden slices and wood chips. We will have a look for some leaves and twigs in the playground to add to our collection!
Our role play has been transformed into a garden with water cans, trowels, plant pots, flowers, grass and shovels!
Our small world space has transitioned into a science centre. We are exploring a variety of both real and artificial plants, discussing what we are observing and how the different objects feel. We also have a selection of bugs in
Google Albums
Our Who We Are album is complete, you can check it out below. We will be uploading to the Sharing the Planet album for the rest of the unit.
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