Emotional Intelligence

2/24/2023

“In the last decade or so, science has discovered a tremendous amount about the role emotions play in our lives. Researchers have found that even more than IQ, your emotional awareness and abilities to handle feelings will determine our success and happiness in all walks of life, including family relationships.”
— John Gottman

There is a big difference between feeling an emotion and becoming it. When we “are” an emotion, we react with no control over our thoughts, feelings or actions. When we can feel and identify an emotion we can consciously choose to regulate our behavior.

The Feeling Buddies and books help children learn to identify what they are feeling and practice self regulation tools. As children practice empathy and comfort their Feeling Buddies through a range of emotions, they learn helpful language that eventually becomes their inner speech for self-regulation, emotional wellbeing and healing.

Visit Conscious Discipline for free resources or to buy your own feeling buddies and books for home!

The feeling buddies live in the peace corner of the classroom and we have been practicing with them by mirroring the different emotions and helping our buddies through their feelings with our words and empathy.

Conscious Breath

When we notice that we are in a big feeling our first step in self regulation is through our breath. Here are some of the favorite breaths we like to practice together, try some at home!

Balloon Breath

I put my hands on my head. I take a deep breath and fill up my balloon. I let the air out slowly with a fun pbpbpbpbpb sound.

Drain Breath

I hold my arms out straight and squeeze them tight as I breathe in. I relax my fists and breathe out with a shhhhshshsh sound.

S.T.A.R. Breath

I Smile, Take a deep breath, And Relax.

Pretzel Breath

I cross my legs. I cross my arms. I put my tongue on the roof of my mouth. I take a deep breath into my belly.

My Feelings Book

Feeling Cards

These feeling cards help us to identify an even more subtle range of emotions and broaden our emotional vocabulary. We enjoyed picking cards, acting out the emotion, and having our friends guess what we are feeling.

Painting to Music

We explored our feelings through the medium of art and music, painting in response to songs with different emotional themes.

Self portraits

Self portraits are a creative way for children to develop their observational, expressive, and reflective skills. The kids loved studying their faces in the mirror and trying out different facial expressions.

Feeling Books

Here are a few of our faves!

Affirmation Yoga

We loved picking out different affirmation cards and creating yoga poses to go with them!

I AM STRONG

I AM CONNECTED

I AM AWESOME!

I AM INSPIRED

I AM HAPPY

I AM CALM

Then we were inspired to create our own unique affirmation cards!

Being with our Senses

A great way to learn how to process our emotions is to develop our capacity to be in the present moment with our senses. A wonderful practice to tap into our senses is through animal awareness exercises. These adorable finger puppets make the experience even more fun!

Little Owl teaches us how to watch like an owl...

Let’s try to expand our senses and watch the world like an owl. Stand still and find an object straight ahead of you to focus on. Imagine your eyes are stuck in place, and cannot move from side to side. If you find yourself looking away from your object or focus point, bring your vision (and your eyes) back to center. Without moving your eyes (and while focusing on your object) notice what else is visible: you can likely see the sky or ceiling, and the ground or floor. You’ve just found your peripheral vision, and your owl eyes!

Practice building on this by noticing the farthest thing you can see to the left, and to the right while still keeping your eyes focused on that first object. Try lifting your hands into the air in front of you, and wiggling your fingers. Keep your eyes focused on your original object, and slowly move your hands away from your central field of vision, and towards your peripheral vision to the left, and right. How long can you continue to see your wiggling fingers? Can you see them if they are 45 degrees from your central object, how about 90?
(Muddy Sneakers)

Little Deer shows us how to listen like a deer...

Many animals native to North Carolina have a sense of hearing much more powerful than ours, including the White-Tailed Deer. To listen like a deer, cup your hands (with your fingers all together) and put them behind your ears. This amplifies even the smallest sounds whether you’re in a forest, your backyard, or your living room! To test out your “deer ears,” listen for a noise without assistance and give your senses a boost by putting your cupped hands up to your ears. Are sounds louder when you listen like a deer? Can you hear bird calls, rustling leaves, or croaking toads more clearly? To test out the distance of your “deer ear” amplification, find a family member to be your “noisemaker.” Put your deer ears up, stand facing your noisemaker, and close your eyes. Have your family member make an animal noise and take a few steps backward. Raise your hand every time you hear your noisemaker and test out how far away they can get before you no longer hear them!

Little Fox shows us how to walk like a fox...

Many wild animals have incredibly sensitive feet that allow them to walk silently through the forest. Foxes such as North Carolina’s native Grey Fox are especially good at sneaking softly through the woods. To explore your sense of touch through fox walking:

Take a short, slow step and place only the outside edge of your foot on the ground. (If this is difficult, try placing toes down first)
Gently roll your foot down flat
Slowly move your weight forward
Repeat with the other foot…

When you fox-walk, you will feel the ground before actually putting your weight on that foot. As you practice, try to freeze mid-step like a fox might. Imagine you are a fox and you hear another animal look at you, or you hear the alarm call of a bird. As you walk, feel for sticks that might break under you: then pick your foot up and place it in a new spot before the stick snaps. Remember, move slowly.

The rabbit is the animal with the most developed sense of smell. Through their noses rabbits pick up information from their environment. I wonder what you can smell and tell about your environment when you smell like a rabbit?

Little Snake shows us how to fully taste the air around us. Can we smell with our tongues?

Snakes use their tongues to smell their surroundings. Most snakes have poor eyesight and must rely on their other senses to help them out. Can you use your tongue to smell your surroundings? What do you taste in the air? What can you sense about this place with your sense of taste?

Puppet Show

After some practice we performed a puppet show for the younger kids to teach them the animal awareness exercises too.

In the Garden

Science Experiment

In one of our weekly experiments, the kids were given a large assortment of materials and supplies. Without the teacher's help they discussed, designed and executed an experiment of their choice.

Cooperative Games

We Love to Read!

Valentine's Day Fun

Valentine Chocolates

Chocolate Chip Cookins

We tried a new flour mix and they made a delightful new creation…. Not quite a cookie, a little like a muffin - the kids call them ‘cookins’!

Mix together 1.5 cups nut & seed flour with 1 cup coconut sugar, 1 cup stevia sweetened chocolate chips, 1 egg, 1/2 cup coconut oil, and 1 tsp vanilla. Dollop onto a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper and bake at 350 for 10 to 15 minutes.

Cinnamon Raisin Muffins

Ingredients

2 ½ cups almond flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
3 tbsp honey
3 eggs
2 tbsp melted coconut oil
1/2 cup raisins

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a large mixing bowl, add all of the ingredients except for the raisins. Whisk until everything is evenly combined.
Add the raisins and use a wooden spoon to fold them in.
Grease a muffin pan with coconut oil (or line the pan with muffin cups), and spoon the batter into the pan, filling each muffin cup about 3/4 of the way to the top.
Bake for 18-20 minutes, until the tops are golden brown. The muffins are done when they are slightly golden brown on top and you can stick a knife in the center and it come out clean.
Remove from oven and let cool for about 5 minutes before removing them from the pan. After removing them from the pan, let cool on a wire rack before serving.