How we express ourselves when we feel EXCITED

-->

When excited, Trystan, Simon, Sarah and Emilie make a silly face and have a lot of energy. 

Sofia mentioned that she loves to “jump up and down and say Yaay Yaay” when she is excited!

Sarah said that playing in the forest with her friends makes her feel happy and very excited, or as Sarah said, "full of energy and lots of fun."

Throughout the unit, we will explore more ways of expressing ourselves, as well as the messages that facial expressions can give to other people.

While playing in the forest today, Sarah identified that sometimes people might feel one thing, but express something else. Her friend used unkind words and an angry facial expression when she gave her a message. With her teacher’s help, Sarah talked to her friend and asked her to use kind words. Sarah noticed that her friend changed the way she gave the message, but her facial expression was still showing that she was feeling frustrated and angry. Simon added to Sarah's story that “Sometimes your body or face might express happiness, but your voice might sound like you are being sad.”

The children took the initiative to observe their friends and to record different ways of expressing themselves. We will be taking pictures and preparing a slide show that will show different ways of expressing and the connection/influence it might have in our life.

How we express ourselves when we feel SAD and WORRIED

-->

Sofia expresses sadness by wearing a frown and by sighing.

All the children said that they express sadness by crying. 

Some of the children have family members away, so they feel a little bit sad. They all want to say hello to all those who are away and that they will miss them. Sarah mentioned that when she misses someone, she tends to read a book by herself or draw a picture.

How we express ourselves when we feel HAPPY

-->

Trystan expresses happiness by skipping. 

Sofia smiles and giggles when happy.

Simon and Emilie express happiness through dancing and singing. Emilie loves to dance all over the room when she feels happy.

Sarah says, “It feels good to be happy and it makes the people around us smile too”. She loves to sing songs, especially because people tend to sing along.

Howard said that "He smiles and feels happy when he sings and dances".

How we express ourselves when we feel ANGRY

When angry, Sofia tends to grab things. She is definitely willing to work on expressing herself through words. “Grabbing makes my friends unhappy”.

Trystan said, “I just go on my bed to be by myself”.

Emilie tends to stomp her feet and want to be by herself.

Sarah and Simon are both sad and sometimes they even cry when angry.

Byron said, "When I am in a bad mood, I just want to play by myself"

How I Express Myself when I feel...

The children will be presenting different ways of expressing themselves through different areas, which will show the impact on other people (building connections) and the unique way of giving a message. 

How we EXPRESS OURSELVES...

-->

Below are some different ways of expressing ourselves that the children were able to think of:

• Art, drawing pictures.
• Music, singing songs.
• Drama, dressing up, a puppet show.
• Movement, playing outside, anything that involves body movement.
• Writing and speaking.

The children will be given the opportunity to reflect on their knowledge and the different forms of expression by recording their thoughts and experiences in a journal. Taking time to reflect helps us practice slowing down so that we can make connections with what we hear and see.

The children are showing a good understanding of the importance of being good listeners and how it can help build understanding of someone’s needs and wants. People express themselves in different ways and sometimes that can influence who we are and what we do.

The children started adding pages to their journal. They thought of different ways that they express themselves, or ways that their family and friends express themselves. Simon mentioned that he would like to be able to express himself through writing, so today we took the time to practice writing our names and some key words that the children chose.

Feelings and different ways of expressing ourselves.

During the formative week, we talked about ourselves, the things we like and different ways of performing some tasks. (Please visit Wendy’s blog to read more about the formative week http://wendy-creativemindsevents.blogspot.ca/2013/04/new-unit-express-yourself.html
 From that discussion, we started looking into feelings and ways of expressing them through our faces, bodies and voices. We played a bingo game where the children had to match the description that was written on their cards to a picture. This gave the children a chance to connect some descriptive words with the corresponding facial expressions and feelings.

“We are all different and we all express ourselves in our own way”, Simon added.