327. INFANZIA SBS. Feelings and emotions

Quest’anno scolastico, i TIGROTTI hanno imparato a identificare e descrivere le emozioni attraverso storie, canzoni e giochi. Attraverso il gioco di ruolo, hanno praticato metodi per calmarsi durante forti emozioni, come ascoltare musica rilassante, fare yoga o semplicemente colorare. Hanno creato il loro “libro delle emozioni”, così non solo arricchendo il loro vocabolario ma anche valorizzando le loro emozioni, contribuendo positivamente al comportamento in classe e alle relazioni con insegnanti e compagni.

Emotions are an abstract concept. A preschooler can feel them, but it is challenging to express those feelings into words. This school year our LITTLE TIGERS have been learning how to identify and label their feelings and emotions. Through stories, songs and games, the children have been able to build their oral language skills with additional vocabulary words, which has helped them to articulate and share their emotions in the classroom with their teachers and friends. It has been very fun and helpful for the children to practice through role play the different methods for calming down when feeling strong emotions. Some of these include listening to relaxing music, yoga poses or simply coloring. At the end of this project, the children were able to make their very own “book of feelings.”  They colored in the booklet, which contained pictures of boys or girls portraying facial expressions and body language of the feelings and emotions they learned about. The purpose of the picture book was to facilitate their understanding and retention on the topic and help improve their visual literacy skills. The aim of this project was not only to enrich the children’s vocabulary, but to give importance and value to each child’s very own feelings and emotions. In order to practice the use of these new words and for the children to feel more comfortable with expressing themselves daily, we have made it part of our circle-time routine to say how we are feeling each morning when we come to school.

This way they can more effectively navigate relationships, calm down and problem solve when challenges arise. Additionally, for a child once a negative feeling is shared it can seem less intense and worrisome. It is our duty as adults to teach young children how to share what they are feeling to help get their needs met. Thus far, the feelings and emotions project has made a very positive impact on the children’s behavior in the classroom and has allowed for a deeper connection with their teachers and peers. This has played an important role especially on the strongfeelings and emotions, making these easier for the children to express or to cope with in a calm and adequate manner.