Our theme leading up to Valentine's Day was Emotions. Through stories, activities, discussions and sharing we identified the feelings of sadness, anger, fear, love, worry, grumpiness and calm. The goals of this unit included helping the children to identify their feelings, recognize emotions in others and learn strategies for handling difficult feelings.
We read several wonderful books which I would recommend. Wonderful discussions can surface as the children connect to the characters and recognize similarities between the stories and their own experiences.
One of the activities that we did to provide a concrete visual for calming one's emotions included making calming bottles that the children could shake when they feel upset. We discussed how the items swirling around inside are like our emotions and that we can use deep breathing to settle ourselves. Just like a snow globe, the children can shake the bottle and take deep breaths while they watch the contents settle.
The children also created worry dolls by wrapping yarn around clothespins. We discussed how the worry dolls could serve as someone you could tell your worries to and then let them go or the doll could be something to hold onto in situations where you are feeling worried.
While we have been practicing mindful breathing for several months, it was introduced again during our discussion of calming strategies. The children were all given pinwheels to practice taking deep breaths through their nose and blowing out with their mouth. We settled on three deep breaths to bring about calm, but sometimes more is needed.
Another strategy we discussed was tucking using Tucker Turtle. The children were taught that when they feel angry or upset, they can tuck their head down or inside their shirt or do child's pose on the floor, take 3 deep breaths and then think of a solution. This last part might require adult intervention.
All of these materials along with a visual menu of calming activities (playdoh, puzzles, reading, music, etc.) were placed in our calming/reading corner for the children to access when needed.
Math
The children enjoyed sorting pom poms by color in our math center. During small groups we continued to learn about the characteristics of different shapes and practiced drawing shapes.
Games
The children played Connect Four, a simple game to practice taking turns.
Sensory Table
At the sensory table the children practiced scooping and pouring pink water. Turkey basters and droppers also provided fun!
Dramatic Play
A post office was set up in our dramatic play center. The children enjoyed writing postcards or creating Valentine's at the Writing Center and then brought them to the post office where they could buy stamps and the letters could be mailed. The postal workers were responsible for selling stamps, packaging items in boxes, emptying mailboxes and delivering mail (to each person's cubby).
Literacy
Our literacy activities this week included a letter scavenger hunt where the students were asked to find letters hanging around the room and match them to those on a sheet. The children also engaged in activities for matching beginning sounds and identifying syllables.
Playdoh
At the playdoh center, the children made chocolate Valentine's candies and placed them inside candy containers. They even used chocolate playdoh!
Art
The children created Feelings Monsters after we read the story The Color Monster. The students chose a color for their monster that reflected a certain feeling, described when they feel that way and then added features to their monster.
Yoga
During the month of February out yoga has focused on partner and whole class poses. Below the children attempted to create a sunflower together. Next, they partnered up and tried to do poses together such as airplane, eagle and boat.
Valentine's Party
We ended our Emotions theme with a Valentine's party where we shared some delicious pancakes and exchanged valentines.
Music
Mr. Ken's visit this month was wonderful as always. He sang a song to the book Pete the Cat, I Love My White Shoes by Eric Litwin. The students played instruments and then Mr. Ken let each child strum his guitar!
Gym
During our time in the gym the children were exposed to a variety of sports. They practiced catching using the flip boards, balanced on the balance boards, shot baskets with basketballs, played hockey, threw footballs and walked across the stepping blocks.
