Feelings!

We had a terrific Tuesday!  Today's focus was on talking about our feelings.  We learned that we all have feelings and that they change often.  Sometimes we are happy, sometimes sad, and other times excited!  We read a story about feelings and looked at the expressions on the faces in the pictures to try to figure out how each person was feeling.  The story helped us learn some new vocabulary, such as grumpy, thoughtful, curious, and confused.

Then it was our turn to act out different feelings!  We learned the song "If You're Happy and You Know It" and added in different emotions and actions for each verse.  We stomped when we were angry, yawned when we were tired, shrieked when we were scared, shouted "Yippee" when we were excited, cried "Boo hoo" when we were sad, made silly faces when we were being silly, and so much more!  It was a lot of fun!

 

 

We made a list together of things that make us happy.  There were a lot of different ideas!

Miss McCabe tried to trick everyone while playing a beginning literacy game.  Everyone had to listen to the two words Miss McCabe said to see if they were the same words or different, such as "clap, clap" (same) or "happy, hands" (different).  While this sounds simple, it is a little tricky for some of the children.  Learning to listen to words and how they sound is an important foundation for early literacy!

Some time was also spent talking about appropriate ways to express our feelings.  We read the book If You're Angry and You Know It.  The book helped us learn alternatives to hitting or kicking our friends when we are angry.  We learned some new strategies, such as taking a deep breath, using our words to tell friends to stop, or even walking away.  It was neat to see some of the children utilizing these new strategies throughout the rest of the day!

We sang the alphabet song and pointed to the letters as they were sung.  Then we made torn paper rainbow names!  We had to use the muscles in our hands to tear different colors of paper.  Then we got to use the "runny glue" to trace over our names and glue the papers on.  While working, we practiced naming the colors we were using and the letters in our names.  The rainbow names turned out beautiful and the children are so proud of them!  They look wonderful displayed in our classroom!

 

We also continued to watercolor paint our "magic names" today.  The watercolor paints were in such high demand that after everyone had finished painting their "magic names," we used the watercolor paints to paint some shapes!  Painting the shapes was an optional choice during play time.

 

 

Most of playtime was spent having fun painting, but I did manage to catch a few other playtime pictures.

 

 

During snack, we practiced using our snack mats to count out letter crackers today.  When we finished cleaning up our spot, we looked at books.  We love looking at books!

We also learned about the triangle shape.  After looking at some pictures, we realized that all triangles have 3 sides, but don't always look exactly the same!

Then it was time to go outside and play!  Don't forget to send in your child's "About Me" project tomorrow!  We are excited to get to sit in Miss McCabe's chair and tell our friends about ourselves!  Once all of them are in, we will put them into a class book and take turns taking it home to share with our families!

Have a terrific evening!