Following on from our last emotional intelligence session, the children have today had the opportunity to put into practice some of the strategies that they have learnt for managing emotions. They have also had the opportunity to practise recognising the emotions of others. Their task was to move some balloons from one side of the room to the other without using their hands or arms. This was a difficult task and so the children had to recognise when their emotions were affecting their performance and use one of the emotional management strategies that they have previously practised. They also had to recognise when the emotions of their peers were affecting their performance.

Research has indicated that emotional intelligence is a key indicator of success in a number of areas both as a child and into adulthood. The children are learning valuable skills for future success.

Today the children have been learning all about managing their emotions. In their mixed age groups they talked about how emotions can sometimes get the better of you. We then discussed a range of strategies to help us to calm down in situations that make us angry or sad. We talked about “sticky hands”, “tense and relax”, “stretching” and “positive self talk” and then practised these. Finally the children made posters about their chosen strategy. Children that can self-regulate their emotions are better learners and our children certainly showed that today.

The children in year 2 have been learning how to program the Pro-Bot. Although this is similar to the Bee-Bot and Blue-Bot, it has some differences. The children have been finding out these differences; such as how far it moves when you give it certain instructions. The aim of the session was for all children to make the Pro-Bot draw a square for them. Some children even managed to make it draw a rectangle, we came up against some problems along the way and had to debug our instructions in order for the Pro-Bot to do as we wanted.

In year 1 we have been learning about some traditional tales, including the story of the Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf. We were challenged to build a house that would be able to withstand the huffing and puffing of the wolf. As Mrs Graham was not thrilled about us bringing a real wolf into school we decided to use a fan instead. The children worked in teams to construct their buildings using a variety of materials, and then tested them. Designs were changed and improved if needed, and we talked about which materials made the best houses and why.