Build Me "Emotions"

Jeesun's Rotten Day

Recognizing and naming emotions and understanding how to deal with sadness.

0-30 min.
Beginner
PreK-K
jeesuns-rotten-day

Connect

Tell the children you will read them a story about Jeesun.
Explain that Jeesun has had a rotten or very bad day.

Show the children the illustration for this lesson.

jeesuns-rotten-day

Read the following story aloud:

This morning, Jeesun’s mom woke her up at the usual time, but she was still sleepy. She got up and started to
get dressed, but her favorite dress was dirty, so she had to wear a different one. Jeesun’s dad served her oatmeal for breakfast, but Jeesun doesn’t like oatmeal.

Jeesun went to school. Her friend Maddox accidentally kicked a ball, which splashed mud on Jeesun. Now she was very dirty. Later, Jeesun hit her toes on a rock and her foot hurt a lot. In the afternoon, Jeesun couldn’t wait to get home and eat some juicy strawberries. However, her younger sister, Nari, had taken all of the fruit.

Jeesun felt very upset about her rotten day. She went to her room and cried about all of the things that had gone wrong. When she finished crying, she took some deep breaths and felt better.

Jeesun went to the kitchen to find a different snack. Nari handed Jeesun some of her strawberries and Jeesun felt very happy that Nari had shared with her. Maybe it wasn’t such a rotten day after all.

Consider asking questions like:

  • Do you ever have rotten days like Jeesun’s rotten day?
  • How does Jeesun feel when things are going wrong?
  • How do you feel when things are going wrong?

Construct

Tell the children to work with a building buddy to build how Jeesun looks while she experiences one of the problems in the story.

Contemplate

Ask the children to take turns, acting out with their building buddies, how Jeesun felt and what she did in the story.

Consider asking questions like:

  • How does Jeesun show how she feels?
  • What does Jeesun do to feel better?
  • What else helps Jeesun feel better?

Continue

Tell the children to work with their building buddy to build Nari and some strawberries.
Ask them to act out the part of the story where Jeesun and Nari share the fruit.

Did you notice?

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

  • Children are able to recognize and name emotions.
  • Children are able to cooperate with a partner.

Teacher Support

Children will :
Understand that taking time to work through sadness is healthy.

Children are able to recognize and name emotions.
Children are able to cooperate with a partner.