What makes you happy?

Today was a day full of creativity, movement, and lessons about emotions! We started by finishing our Sports Day Banner. Petals also played with our pretend kitchen. M, R, and L pretended to take orders from their teachers.
R: R here! ( pointing at our Sports Day Banner)
L: Here, it’s not spicy ( giving Evita an eggplant sandwich)
M: milk? ( asking if Evita wants milk)
R: Cheese?
L/ M: *hands the menu to Evita
Evita: I’ll have chicken and cheese please.
L: Look hamburger ( trying to persuade Evita to order a hamburger instead)
R: Look, happy face ( showed his playdough happy face)
Next, we got moving with some of our favorites songs; Penguin Dance and The Floor Is Lava was requested by Brendan and Peggy. Rigel on the other hand wanted Hokey Pokey. The room was filled with energy as they jumped up and down.
B/ P: Penguin Dance
B: The Floor Is Lava
T: Monster song ( his friends were scared of the monster song, so we opted to save this song for Halloween)
R: I want Hokey Pokey.
M: Mitte ( she asked her teacher to look at how high she is jumping)
Following our dance, Evita read, Happy by Kerry Dinmont. This book introduces the feeling of happiness to the class. Petals learned what it means to feel happy and how to recognize when others feel the same.
M: Mommy is happy!
Evita: Does mom and dad give you gifts?
E: No!
L: All the gifts!
Evita: How do you feel when you get gifts?
L: happy
Evita: How do you feel when we go to the park?
L: So happy!
Evita: What makes you happy?
L: (When) I play with red truck
T: (When I play with) excavator, big one!
R: ( When I play) shinkansen
K: (When I see) Bee! Buzz, buzz
D: ( When I get to )sleeping
B: ( When I play with) cars
M: (When I am) playing
P: * nods her head when asked if she is happy when she is playing with Doheon and Brendan
E: I don’t know
After the story, Evita encouraged everyone to pop some bubbles and soon the room was filled with giggles. Esmi snapped some photos and when we looked at them, Petals saw their own smiles! Evita asked , Why are you smiling? This helped Petals reflect on their feelings while they were popping bubbles. She then introduced a happy doll (Joy) and a sad doll (Sadness). Petals shared what they think is the difference in their facial expressions. We also discussed how we can help the Sadness feel better. It’s a great way to help them understand that it’s ok to feel sad sometimes and to recognize sadness in others.
M: Bubble! Bubble!
T: Pop! Pop!
E: I want to pop more
L: Can you make a bigger one(bubbles)?
K: Smile! ( when asked what he sees in their pictures)
B: Happy!
Evita: Is her lips up or down? (Joy)
D: goes up!
Evita: How about Sadness?
L: down
R: I get DVD and watch this one
M: Sad
E: If mouth goes up, happy
Evita: Sadness lost her toy, what do you think she is feeling?
M: Sad
Evita: Will you be sad if you lose your toy?
E: No, I will just buy a new one
L: If my mom throw all my cars, I’ll be sad
Evita: What should we do if a friend is sad because they lost their toy?
E: Help, maybe buy them a new one.
Evita: What if we don’t have money?
E: Share our toys with our friends
Evita: What if the toy is just missing and could still be in the house, what should we do?
E: Go home and find the toy
Evita: While Sadness was looking for her toy, she bumped her head. How do you think she would feel?
Ri/ L: Sad
Evita: What can we do if a friend is hurt?
T:(Put) band aid
L: Ice pack!
Our day was packed with lots of important conversations about feelings. Join us again tomorrow as we continue to explore more about feelings.
Love,
Petals