It is important to have a toolbox of strategies when it comes to processing and working through big emotions. We teach students that some strategies may work for some feelings but not others, and some days it may help more than others. That is why re encourage having many different strategies in our emotional toolbox.
Have a look at some of the strategies we teach our students. You may want to introduce these to your child before them starting school so that they are familiar with the language and the skill. They are even great tools to use at home, and for adults too! Some of our strategies: • Deep breathing: Using your finger on your left hand, trace around the fingers on your right hand. For every time you move up your finger you breath in, and for every time you move down your finger you breath out. • Squeeze and release: Squeeze your hands as tight as you can for 5 seconds and then release. Repeat 5 times. • 5,4,3,2,1: Identify 5 things you can see, 4 things you can feel, 3 things you can hear, 2 things you can smell, and 1 thing you can taste. • Taking Space: One of the best things we can do if we are feeling overwhelmed or upset is to take some space. Move to a safe space in your room, close your eyes and take 5 deep breaths.
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Below are some great activities you can do with your children centred around getting to know how their body feels and shows emotions.
One of the first skills we teach our kindergarteners when it comes to social-emotional learning is recognising and naming emotions. One way we teach this is having them identify how another person is feeling based on their facial expressions.
We encourage you to sit down with your child and have them identify the feelings in the faces below. You might even want to start a conversation with them asking: "Have you felt that way before? What do you think that person should do if they are feeling that way?". These are simple, easy conversations to have with kids to help them learn to identify and recognise that everyone experiences emotions and how to spot them in others. We know that one of the most significant things we can initially teach kids, to assist with self regulation, is identification of how they are feeling. We start with looking at how their body feels. Do you feel hot? Is your tummy feeling fluttery? Are you fists curled up? Do you have goosebumps? Our body tells us a lot about how we are feeling. Once we can recognise how we feel in our body, we may be able to put a name to how we are feeling. Naming our emotions is a really important step. This helps in building an emotional vocabulary but also helps decrease the sensation of it in our bodies. Once we have named the emotion, we may need some time to sit with it or apply a strategy to help work through it. When we get students to identify what 'emotion zone' they are in, it helps them to recognise and articulate how they are feeling; developing their emotional intelligence and communication. Additionally, it helps them understand how others may be feeling. We speak to students about how sometimes we may feel angry, scared or nervous and that it is ok to feel those ways. However we want to aim to feel in the 'Green Zone' most of the time. If we are finding that we feel like we are in the 'Yellow, Blue or Red Zones' more than the 'Green Zone', then that means we need to speak to an adult about how we are feeling. Every classroom has a set of these that teachers and students refer to. We encourage you to use this language and introduce this to your child prior to entering our Kindergarten classrooms so that they are familiar with the resource. |
Wellbeing in KindergartenEvery week you will find new resources that we use in our Kindergarten Classrooms. We encourage you to explore these with your children in getting them ready for school. ArchivesCategories |