Jayden Feels Disappointed

Tell the children you will read a story about Jayden feeling disappointed.
Explain that feeling disappointed means that you were hoping for something, but it did not happen.

Show the children the illustration for this lesson.

Read the following story aloud:

During the entire sharing time, Jayden was sitting quietly with his hand raised. However, Mrs. Muffin must not have seen him because she kept calling on other children. Jayden was beginning to feel nervous and frustrated. What if he didn’t get called on before share time ended? He had such a great story to tell about how he had gone to the new Lorikeet Exhibit at the zoo.

Suddenly, just as Jayden was thinking about how the lorikeets had flown right to him to drink nectar from his cup, Mrs. Muffin announced that they had time for just one more share. Jayden straightened his body up tall, raised his hand up even higher, and started making little noises hoping his teacher would call on him. Mrs. Muffin smiled and looked right at him. This was it, the moment he had been waiting for; he would finally get his turn! Except, Mrs. Muffin didn’t choose Jayden, she chose the girl right beside him instead. Jayden’s eyes began to fill up with tears and his mouth turned down.

The girl next to Jayden excitedly began to talk about her trip to the zoo where she had fed some birds called lorikeets. Jayden turned to look at the girl beside him. At first, he was shocked, and then he felt hot inside.

Hey! That girl copied my story about the zoo. She stole my share! I was going to tell Mrs. Muffin and everybody about it! He thought.

Jayden began to blurt out that the trip to the zoo was his share, then Mrs. Muffin got a strange look on her face. She put a finger up to her lips as a reminder to Jayden not to interrupt someone’s share turn.

• Help the children understand that this complex scenario involves several emotions: jealousy, anxiety, and disappointment.
• Explain that Jayden felt jealous because he really wanted to tell about his experience at the zoo, and someone else was able to tell about it instead of him.

Consider asking questions like:

• Have you ever felt the way Jayden felt?
• How did he show his feelings?
• How did Jayden respond to his problem?
• Did Jayden’s actions help solve the problem?

Tell the children to work with a building buddy to build Jayden.

Ask the children to share their models. Tell the building buddies to act out the share time scene of Jayden and his class. Ask them to act out a way Jayden could cope with his jealous feelings other than by getting mad and interrupting.

Consider asking questions like:

• How would you feel if right before your turn, I told you we were out of time to share?
• How could you share your feelings or release them in a way that doesn’t create more problems or hurt others? (Solutions may include belly breathing, sharing with a teacher and friends later, crying it out, making a book or drawing a picture about it, planning to talk later with mom/dad/grandparents about what happened.)

Ask the children to work with a building buddy to build a child.

• Tell them to imagine that the child’s parents told him or her they were going to a place the child loves, and then, for some reason, they weren’t able to go.
• Tell the children to talk to the child about feeling disappointed.

Observing the following skills can help you monitor whether the children are developing socially and emotionally.

• Children are able to resolve conflicts in constructive ways.
• Children are able to express emotions in appropriate ways.