Lunch Bunch Update
Week 1
What we did today:
1. Turn your body toward your friend
2. Look your friend in the eyes
3. Greet your friend by name
We will practice these steps as an opening routine for greeting one another at the beginning of every group.
As the children finished lunch, we started talking about feelings. This is a basis for learning to recognize and regulate our own feelings, and to recognize the effect of our actions on the feelings of others. We read the book The Way I Feel by Janan Cain. This book uses dynamic illustrations to portray a variety of feelings including silly, scared, disappointed, happy, sad, angry, thankful, frustrated, shy, bored, excited, jealous and proud. We will revisit this book and review these feelings next week, as we continue to explore ways that we recognize them in ourselves and in others.
Tips for bringing it home:
- Talk to your child after school about lunch bunch. Ask them to show you the three steps we use when we talk to people. If they have trouble remembering, help them out.
- Turn everyday interactions into teaching moments. For example, if your child is frustrated about something, or having difficulty playing with a sibling or friend, walk them through the communication steps and help them tell you or the other child how they are feeling and what they need.
- Model good communication for your child. When you are talking to your child, periodically point out to them how you are facing them, looking them in the eye, using their name and directing your words toward them.