Feelings

This book was written and illustrated by Aliki, who is a well known author and illustrator, and I think I chose to blog about this book because we find it as a necessity to teach about emotions with students who have any kind of P.D.D. ( Pervasive Development Disorder). For whatever reason, emotions are a hard concept to grasp, and identifying personal feelings are even more difficult. I like this book because it took a creative approach to showing kids how to feel, using effective dialogue, cartoon stories, specifically defined emotions, and ways to solve problems with our emotions when things go awry. Our population of students ave Autism, and sometimes get upset for reasons that either we're not sure of, or that they are unsure of ( and sometimes, they are just like everyone else and they get upset when things don't get their way!) , and a book like this that walks you through different emotions and why people behave the way that they do is kind of like a God-send.

I would use this book for students with special needs first, and then keep it in a classroom as a resource for when those social problems pop up amongst children every so often. As a pre-activity, I would make little bag books that could be labeled with the different emotions that we may feel in all kinds of situations. In each bag book, I would either create a scenario or develop dialogue, and have the kids work in teams of 2-4 with role play. Together they can solve the problem using the corrected behavior, and then journal about it afterwards. I think as a whole group activity, the book could be fit for K-1st grade students, however for the students to use the book personally as a resource, it would be appropriate for 2nd-5th grade readers. Aliki did a wonderful job with the creative, kid like illustrations that are friendly and welcoming.