Simply Teach from the heart not from the book

As our friends and colleagues prepare to walk back into the classroom tomorrow and greet those innocent smiling faces we realize that this will be a most difficult day. We struggle with our own fears and emotions trying to grasp onto a concept that still feels so foreign and unimaginable. 

How can we possibly go about our day to day routine when something so tragic grabs hold of us.....

I have just one answer......it's quite simple we Teach.

We teach our Children to...

Respect each other

To listen when someone else is sharing

To value the opinions of their peers

To honor beliefs different from their own

and above all

We teach children to believe in themselves and others, to have Faith and to show Grace.

We teach through our actions not always our words. Your actions will show your students and your children how to navigate this world and how to make sense of it. As the bell rings and the morning starts you will teach. You will not need any special lesson plans or standards posted. You will do what you are born to do. You will do what you have been called to do. You will do what students need you to do more than anything else. You will teach. You change lives and touch hearts everyday, tomorrow will be no different. So as you rush in to your classroom tomorrow morning know that YOU make a difference, YOU are important and YOU are needed now more than ever.

In light of recent events we wanted to make our resource kit on Emotions available to any teacher or parent who has children who are struggling with emotions and feelings that they can't control or verbalize. We hope that this kit can be used to give children's emotions a voice and start a conversation that will lead down a path of success not violence.

To view our original post on how to implement this kit please visit here.

  The sheet below help younger children to express their emotions through their drawing. Just right click and save the image below to print for your class or little ones at home.

Helping your children to see that they have the power within themselves to change the way they feel will give them encouragement to discover and work through their emotions.

 Click in the image below to visit our shop where you can get our entire kit for free.

 

Our hearts and prayers go out to all of the families of Sandy Hook Elementary School. Our hearts are saddened, but our faith is ignited by your strong spirit.

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The Way I Feel: Helping your little one with their emotions

 

Little kids have a hard time expressing emotions. They often get frustrated, have an outburst or act out in a physical nature. Going to school, whether it is preschool or elementary, is sometimes hard. There are lots of new faces, expectations and skills each day. So helping them put a voice to their feelings is the best way we can prepare them to handle uncomfortable situations.
We developed the perfect kit for other teachers and moms looking to teach their children about their emotions.
You can purchase the kit from our Simply Sprout Store. The kit is designed to explore students emotions and feelings. Students can learn to define what their feelings are using this kit. There is a chart for your to print and laminate, just add velcro or magnets onto the back of the feeling monsters. Have students identify their own feelings and show them on the chart. Students can use one of the three pages provided to either draw, journal or record weekly feelings and emotions. For teachers there is also a bulletin board kit to display student work around the classroom.

The Way I Feel Kit Contains: 

The Way I feel Feelings Chart

8 Feelings cards

Daily Behavior tracker

The Way I feel Activity sheet

The Way I feel Bulletin Board Kit ( The Way We Feel Header and 8 emotion monsters with titles)

The Way I feel Journal Page

 

I Printed the kit and laminated it at my local Kinkos (I like using their small pouch laminator because the lamination film is extra durable and thick) I added small velcro dots onto the back of the monsters and to the circles on the chart. I mounted my daughters chart next to her bed. I used sticky velcro to attach a small mirror next to her chart as well as her emotions cards (which are attached together using a plastic luggage tag cord)

When I introduced her new chart we talked about each of the feelings and cards and reviewed what the emotion words meant. I showed her how she needed to look in the mirror and see her expression and then find the feeling that matched what she saw. Within a few minutes she was trying out her new skills on her baby brother...

After flipping through her cards, my daughter determined her brother was frustrated because he couldn't climb up on the bed on his own. So I asked her, "What could we do to help him with his feeling of frustration?" "Mommy I could help him up on the bed, and then he would be happy again!" She says ...Why yes Kaitlyn I think that's a great idea!

Now our little man is back to being happy and his feeling of frustration is gone!

When setting up this area in your home be sure to make it a comfortable private spot where your child can reflect and work through their emotions. Now instead of getting frustrated with my daughter when she is melting down I just send her to her bed to take a break and evaluate her emotions. With older children you can use the printables from the kit to have them write or draw about their emotions. Just copy several back to back and place in a folder or have them spiral bound at your local copy store.
 The sheet below help younger children to express their emotions through their drawing. Just right click and save the image below to print for your class or little ones at home.

Helping your children to see that they have the power within themselves to change the way they feel will give them encouragement to discover and work through their emotions. We would love to hear how you incorporate this kit into your home or classroom please write to us at simplysprout@gmail.com

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