Helping Children Name Their Feelings with Elizabeth Fraley Kinder Ready
To a little child, it may be like a tidal wave, overwhelming, confusing, and beyond words. The first step to this powerful inner world is the critical one of creating a vocabulary on this subject. The ability to correctly label feelings in children is one of the underlying social-emotional skills that directly contributes to the regulation of self, empathy, and cognitive preparedness to learn. In the Elizabeth Fraley Kinder Ready, this is a carefully considered part of our comprehensive educational philosophy, to which we apply emotional literacy development. We offer the language, the tools, and the practice so the young learners can perceive and express their feelings, manipulating the time of frustration into the time of development and empowering them with the self-confidence that enables them to control the inner world.
This starts with the direct instruction of the ideas of a feeling word, not just happy and sad, but with words that are more specific, such as frustrated, proud, disappointed, excited and calm. The Kinder Ready Elizabeth Fraley approach inculcates this vocabulary learning into day-to-day learning. During a kindergarten Kinder Ready Tutoring session (one-on-one), a teacher could read to the group high-quality kids’ literature and ask questions such as, How do you think she felt when that happened? ” or “Have you ever felt that way?” This exercise of outside observation helps children start recognizing the feelings within themselves. In like manner, the model of emotional labeling that teachers engage in in real-time is through statements like, I see you are working very hard on that puzzle. You are a determined-looking person, but it can be frustrating when a piece of something does not fit.
Elizabeth Fraley Kinder Ready has the mission to showcase children’s various forms of learning to find their sparks. This is carried over to emotional learning. We understand that children associate themselves with this idea using multiple modalities. A visual learner may need a “feelings chart” which has expressive faces. The kinesthetic learner may pretend various emotions with the help of a charade or even use clay to model an image of an emotion. Aural learners may work with songs about emotions. When proposing the idea of emotional identification by offering different channels to everyone, we make sure that each and every child will find a solution to this puzzle that will appeal to them in terms of their learning style. This accommodative method formalizes the child’s experience and brings the abstract idea of an emotion nearer and more tangible.
The importance of learning this is significant to the executive functioning of a child and general preparedness. This skill to stop and label an emotion (I am angry) uses the reasoning part of the brain (prefrontal cortex) and builds an important separation between impulse and response. Such is the foundation of self-control. Children can learn this skill with soft instructions in the safe, predictive setting of Kinder Ready Tutoring. In case the child becomes upset in the course of a difficult task, the educator may assist the child in naming the emotion and discussing a strategy to cope with it. This is the process, name it, tame it, which constructs neural routes to emotional control. When children are more successful at recognizing their feelings, they get a sense of control over them. This self-efficacy decreases anxiety, limits the behavioral outbursts and makes cognitive resources available to concentrate on learning.
For further details on Kinder Ready’s programs, visit their website: https://www.kinderready.com/.
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ElizabethFraleyKinderReady
Disclaimer
This content is for educational purposes only and does not replace professional medical or mental health advice. Please consult a qualified professional for concerns about your child’s emotional well-being.
