Jeesun and Jayden Learn That Accidents Happen

Tell the children you will read a story about an accident that happened to Jeesun.

Show the children the illustration for this lesson.

Read the following story aloud:

It was circle time again. Mrs. Muffin called for all of the children to meet her on the rug. Jeesun joyfully came right over, excited to hear Mrs. Muffin teach them a song and read a new story. Sometimes the class practiced the calendar too! But, Jayden thought it was an awful time. Yes, he liked songs (but he never sang out loud), and he loved books, but he did not enjoy sitting for soooo long. To get through it he sometimes looked for staples or little pieces of stuff on the carpet, or slowwwly slid down out of “criss cross, applesauce” position to lay on the carpet.

Today, he was feeling especially sluggish by the time Mrs. Muffin was about half way into reading the book, so he had sprawled out on the carpet. One of his feet smashed Jeesun’s pinky finger, which startled her out right of her delight in Mrs. Muffin’s story.

Jeesun squealed in surprised pain, “OWWW! Mrs. Muffin, Jayden broke my finger!”

Jeesun rushed from her spot on the rug and bumped into the other children in her efforts to get to the teacher. Mrs. Muffin, startled by the commotion dropped the book on the floor. The other children rolled their eyes at the whole situation.

Take the children through this comprehension activity:

• Tell children to work with a building buddy to play a game.
• Distribute the face bricks strategically so that each pair of building buddies has multiple opportunities to identify a Build Me face that shows an emotion that was expressed in the story.
• Say: “Now, I am going to read the story again. Listen for times when one of your face bricks could be used to show how a character is feeling. I will pause when I get to one of those times so that you and your building buddy can carefully look at your face bricks. If one of your bricks matches the character’s feeling in the story, hold it up so we can see it.”
• Remind the children to flip their face bricks over to see the expressions on both sides.
• Read the story again. The bolded words are possible places to pause.

Teaching tip: read the story more than two times to help with comprehension.

Consider asking questions like:

• Did Jayden want to hurt Jeesun? Did he smash her finger on purpose or by accident?
• How do you tell whether someone’s hurtful action is done by accident or on

Tell the children to work with a building buddy to build how Jeesun and Jayden looked at the end of the story.

Ask the building buddies to use their models to act out the story showing what Jayden could have done differently to avoid accidently hurting Jeesun (e.g., he could have asked for permission to lie down outside of the circle or he could have stayed sitting up).
Ask the children to act out the story again, this time showing that Jeesun understands that accidents happen.

Ask the children to think about some times when people might accidentally hurt or bother each other.

Give these examples:

• Lining up
• Finding a seat at the table for snack
• Playing on the playground
• Using a toy or tools during free choice time
• Riding in the car with a sibling
• Crowding around an area the classroom to see better
• Having a group picture taken
• Moving through crowds at a fair or while shopping

Tell the children to work with a building buddy to choose one of these “accidentswaiting to happen” situations.
Ask them to build two characters and some items that could be used to act out a story about the accident.

Activity tip: to simplify the challenge, ask the building buddies to build Mrs. Muffin.
Ask the children to think of how Mrs. Muffin would help the characters solve their problem. (Answers may include: suggest a cool down time or hug both kids and teach them to seek help before getting upset.)
Have the children act out a solution to the problems in their stories.

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

• Children are able to understand how their actions affect others.
• Children are able to resolve conflicts in constructive ways.