This blog is a way to examine my many adventures as I try to make the most of this life, and teach my boys how truly magical every moment can be. We may have ups and downs, but either way we are learning through exploration. My job is to try to make learning enjoyable so they always have a thirst for it.
I have come to realization that "A" has not been dealing with emotions very well. He tends to only want to do what makes him happy or act out in anger. I have desperately tried to protect him from feeling sadness or fear, and in turn led him to miss out on being able to come out from the other side of it. Feeling the negative feelings helps us grow and become stronger. In a way to rectify my parenting mistake we are taking a hard look at feelings.
You can pick up this poster at Learning Palace for $1.50 or so
It is common for people to make word-a-day vocabulary cards. I decided to make emotion vocabulary cards. I started with 12 different feeling cards with the definition, a picture that corresponds to the emotion, the word used in a sentence, and then ways to deal or cope with that feeling.You can download my first round of vocabulary cards here. Just like traditional word-a-day cards we are picking one feeling a day to look at and get a better understanding of.
The vocab card we chose today
I try to include three or four coping mechanisms for each feeling. There are strategies for even happy emotions. Coping ideas range from hugging a stuffed animal, positive self-talk, talking with parents, exercise, etc. One thing we learned that help children with calming down in taking a volcano breath. I have made a video of "A" demonstrating what that looks like and we use it frequently.
Over 1+1+1=1 there is a feelings lapbook for tots. It is very cute for younger children. There was one thing in the unit that I felt would be a great exercise to do with "A". There is two headless children (a girl and boy) and a bunch of happy faces (although they aren't all happy but a range of emotions). Included is a list of guiding questions like, "Her Mommy just told her she needed to go to time-out, how is she feeling?" Then the child looks through the facial expressions and picks the appropriate head. This is great for reading emotions of others and how to respond. "A" appropriately commented that you can have more than one feeling and so some of his people had multiple heads. I really love this and am working on new questions to ask.
While you are discussing how facial features show emotion why don't you have your child act out different emotions. This allows them to face negative emotions in a safe environment and also let's them feel how the body changes depending on the mood.
Sadness
Anger
Scared
Excited
Sometimes what we feel is more abstract. Have your child color what the feelings would look like just using colors and symbols. Ask them what color would sadness be? See what they come up with.
I discovered lapbooks back in February. I can't get enough of them. The homeschooling community uses these as tools for their curriculum. I may not homeschool, but I find them perfect for supplemental learning with my preschooler. A lapbook is a folded up file folder that you put pocket books studying a theme in. One of my favorite things is how you can have a keepsake of your learning that touches all subjects in one folder. I get almost all of my lapbook ideas and printables at Homeschool Share, an amazing free resource. There are tons of websites and ideas out there if you Google lapbooks, I just think Homeschool Share is the best. The ideas are endless and it's fun trying to find ways to be creative and add more to the lesson.
I wanted to include some of the lapbooks I have done with "A". I have done more than the ones included but they were a study on holidays, so I will save them for other posts. I hope this gives you an idea of what lapbooks are and what you can do with them. To get started on how to make a lapbook watch this YouTube tutorial.
No supplemental text for this one, since it is just about your little one.
These are the ones we have done so far. Phew, that was a lot!!! I am trying to find ways to incorporate these into my classroom with older children. I think lapbooks may be a fun way organize and teach social studies units. I am thinking in particular The Colonies, Native Americans, Revolutionary War, etc. Let you know if I complete one. They also have them for older children literature studies. In fact, "A" and I are doing one now for our read-aloud of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.
A note on storing these bad boys: They are pretty compact but they can pile up. I have seen some people put duct tape on the edge and then three-ring hole punch the tape. I don't really like that. I think it takes away from the look of them. Let's face it, duct tape is ugly (except the cool new ones in craft stores). I saw one person who didn't keep them in a lapbook form but put each individual page in a plastic page protector, so all the books where in a binder. I like that idea and may switch to it later on down the road. I tried to put them in the page protectors as they are now and they don't fit, so I need to do some problem solving...another day!
