The whole school has joined in Children’s Mental Health week.
Maple Class began the week by playing a game of ‘Fruit Salad.’ with the children taking turns to call out different cues, such as ‘change places if you like dogs’ or ‘change places if you are looking forward to our fire station trip tomorrow.’ We talked about the fact that we had lots of things in common but there are also had lots of differences between us.
They talked about the different mood monsters and how they might be feeling if they were ‘yellow’, ‘blue’, ‘red’ or ‘green.’
During the week, they have kept tabs on how they were feeling at different times of the day, using our ‘Zones across the Day’ tables.
They talked about the different things they do to help ‘get back to green’ and the children wrote speech bubbles about their best strategies!
Maple Class had the opportunity to share what they like (and don’t like) and to be heard. They learnt the Makaton sign for ‘Favourite’ and enjoyed the song ‘do you like it?’, speaking about how we all like different things but everyone’s ideas, thoughts and views matter.
With their year 6 buddies, they spent time sharing ‘what makes them proud’. Thank you Year 6 for helping your buddies realise that their thoughts and voice matter.
Cherry Class created wooden spoon people showing the range of emotions they might feel.
During mental health week Cherry Class also celebrated our WOW moments from the past week, for example the times when we have persevered to do something:
‘I was nervous about swimming but I persevered and now I am happy to go.’ – Tuppence
‘I persevered playing my violin, now I can play without stopping’ – Bella
Through discussions, they reflected on how they feel when they persevere and many of the class stated that we feel happy, excited and proud!
Cherry Class also tracked their mood across the day using the zones of regulation (see picture) we then spent time talking about what we can do to help us to get back into the ‘green’ zone which is the colour for optimum learning.
As the theme of the week was My Voice Matters, they also had a circle time discussing likes and dislikes and comparing them with our friend’s likes and dislikes. We came to realise that many of us don’t like the same things and that it’s ok for us to be different, but at the same time we can respect others’ feelings. In our teams we worked together to create a poster of our day and all the things we are proud of including the things that make us different.
Finally, we discussed what we might do if we are worried about something and introduced a worry box where we can write our worries if we feel like that is easier than talking about our worries.
Willow Class took on the main focus of the week and looked at just how much they agree with ‘My Voice Matters’.
Thank you to those willing to share their work and some of the things that make them proud.
