Dear Bears Families,
The Bears continue to investigate their Feelings Curriculum. The Bears have talked together about their different emotions, e.g., being sad, happy, and angry, and what makes them feel that way. These discussions have tied in nicely with the reading of “The Grouchy Ladybug” by Eric Carle and “Grumpy Bird” by Jeremy Tankard. They also read “The Cozy Book” by Mary Ann Hoberman, a richly illustrated book that delights in the ways one can feel cozy across the day, then discussed what makes each of them feel cozy – take a look at their responses on the wall in the circle area. They recently read as well “Words Are Not For Hurting” by Elizabeth Verdick and have had several circle-time discussions about how it feels to hear hurtful words and what one can do when that happens. And the Bears have also been enjoying singing “I’m H-A-P-P-Y” and “I’m S-A-D” with suitable vocal inflections (what showboats we have!) .
A fun feelings activity was to create facial emotional expressions by making facial features out of play dough and placing them on a round piece of cardboard (for the face). They came up with many original looks! The Bears also modeled different feelings themselves – happy, sad, surprise, etc. – and let their teachers take photos of them. See the photo display on the wall in the circle area – very fun. And the Bears made people out of pipe cleaners and used them with their teachers to role play different scenarios and discuss what we can say and do to help someone feel better. The Bears are also in process of making a group Feelings Collage by cutting faces of different emotions from magazines and arranging them on a large piece of contact paper.
More feelings are in our future – and hopefully some warmer weather, too. Have a wonderful weekend!
Martha