December - Week 2: MAD! (and Happy and Sad)

Phoneme: /m/

Transition Song:  Must Be Santa (Raffi)

Concept:  Emotions.  What and How questions.  Opposites.

Materials:  Laminated M.  Laminated Santa pieces (See previous post).

Book:  How Do Dinosaurs Say I'm Mad?  by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague.

Song:  If You're Happy and You Know It Clap Your Hands.

Intro song and letter recognition as listed in previous posts.

Let's talk about "MAD!".  Show me your mad face.  Look at my mad face.  How do you know I'm mad?  Can you do a happy face?  Look at my happy face.  How do you know I'm happy?  Look at my sad face.  How do you know I'm sad?

What does your voice sound like when you are mad?  Is your voice loud or quiet?  Are your feet loud or quiet?

We're reading the book  How Do Dinosaurs Say I'm Mad?  by Yolen and Teague.  I ask the children on every page "Is this a good choice?"

Read the book together.  How can you tell Dinosaur is mad?  What did his parents do?  What did Dinosaur do next?

Sing the song together.  This song is adaptable.  We're going to have fun singing it like this:

1.  If you're happy and you know it clap your hands

2.  If you're sad and you know it cry boo-hoo

3.  If you're mad and you know it stomp your feet

4.  If you're silly and you know it make a silly face

Point out emotions of people around you.  Point out emotions of your child as they happen.  Don't ask "Are you happy?"  Tell them "You are happy.  I can see you smiling."  Label the emotion.

We're also singing Jim Gill's song I'm So Mad from his Album The Sneezing Song and Other.