This week, we worked on our emotions. It is important that we teach children about their self concept and provide activities that promote their development. This week, I notice that L was really working hard and being involved in our discussions about emotions this week. She was giving examples of how each emotion made her feel. We incorporated ways of controlling our emotions and expressing them this week.
We worked on creating portraits of us being happy. After, they created their portraits we talked about what kind of things make them happy. L's response was that "chocolate made her happy." J's response was that visiting family in Kansas made him happy."
We worked on color shape collages. We listened to jazz music while we made our collages. We loved this activity. It allowed us to engage in many areas. We talked about colors and shapes and counted.
Then we moved onto AB patterns using presents and spiders. We mixed them up and then did the AB pattern. This same activity we used to count and sort our presents and spiders. Then, the children were allowed to create their own patterns.
We used flashlights to make shadow puppets of the bear, tree, cat, mouse, and bird. Then children thought that the bear and mouse and maybe the cat if it was not a nice cat would be scary. Then, we opened up a discussion about what other things made them scared. Two of the children let me know that when it is dark its scary outside with noises and darkness.
Another great activity was reading My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss. We listened to the story on video and then painted with different colors. Each child was asked to paint something that color made them feel. Most of the children let me know that mixing colors made it grey and that means it a bad/sad day.
Thanks to Mother Goose Time we were able to do all these activities. I love how everything is laid out for you in the teacher's guide. The cd provides great reinforcement about what they are learning. www.mothergoosetime.com