They have discovered that emotions are not good or bad, but pleasant or unpleasant. Also that everyone experiences the same emotions and that our temperament influences how we deal with them. The children understand there are four core emotions of sadness, anger, fear and happiness. That they vary in how they are triggered and how long they last.
The children have thoroughly enjoyed our family visits with Harry, and his mum Kirsty and Jamie and his mum Maxine, they recognised and named baby Harry and baby Jamie’s emotional cues and facial expressions. How the mums read the emotional cues to meet their baby’s needs and this makes him feel understood. The children really enjoyed their visit, asking Kirsty and Maxine lots of questions and sharing their experiences. Recently the children have been practising for their Nativity and they sang some of the songs for Harry and Jamie including The Woolly Sheep and Jingle Bells, both baby boys really enjoyed the children’s singing and actions to the songs.
We also talked about different types of teasing and bullying behaviour, how this makes us feel and how talking about our emotions can help us manage them. Also the children created artwork and discussed how they can help their friends when they are sad.
For more information please ask Mrs Harris-Toner, Miss McArthur, Mrs Chadwick and Mrs McDermot. Also check out our Roots of Empathy notice board in P2B’s classroom and
http://www.rootsofempathy.org
