This half term, our topic is All About Me. We were very excited to welcome Harold the Giraffe, who helped us learn about how to look after ourselves and keep healthy. We talked about the different things we need in our washbags and why it is important to take care of our bodies.

We have also been learning about our feelings and emotions through stories such as The Colour Monster Goes to School. We explored different emotions, looked closely at the expressions on our faces when we feel happy, sad, angry, worried or excited, and discussed things we can do to help ourselves when we experience these feelings. The children have particularly enjoyed making emotion potions in the mud kitchen, mixing different natural ingredients to represent a range of emotions and encouraging lots of conversations about how we feel.

We have also been introduced to our calm area in the classroom, where we can go when we need some time to regulate our emotions. The children have learnt techniques to help them stay calm, including deep breathing with our breathing ball and watching sensory bubbles. We have discussed that feeling angry is a normal emotion and have explored safe ways to express and manage our anger, helping us to develop important self-regulation skills.

We are very proud of how confidently the children are talking about their emotions, recognising how they feel, and learning ways to care for both their bodies and their minds.