STEP INSIDE
YEAR GROUP: Kindergarten
TASK: Read book: Don’t think about Purple Elephants. Show understanding of story and meaning through discussion and visual thinking
THINKING ROUTINE: Step Inside (what is the character thinking, what is the character feeling, what will the character do next)
COMMENT ON EVIDENCE OF THINKING: This super simple activity showed me that girls understood the concepts that were brought up in the book about worrying, being anxious and sad. It also showed that the girls took away the ways that the mother helped Sophie to manage her emotions but suggesting what she might do next:
“She will do what her mum told her to do and think about purple elephants”
“She will be happy to go to bed” “She will be able to go to sleep”
“Sophie could help others”
APPROPRIATENESS FOR YEAR GROUP:
I think this worked well as a group activity at the start of the year. I hope that the girls will be able to use some writing skills later in the year to create their own character “step inside”. They told me that they found it really useful to visualise the person and to fill in the head, heart, legs and arms.