Using Books: Emotional Literacy

Book name: The Rainbow Fish Marcus Pfizer

Lesson objective: Sharing makes you feel happy too!
 
Language: Sharing, sad, pride, lonely, shocked, "How do you think the fish felt when Rainbow fish said he wouldn't give him a scale?'

Activities:  Practice Sharing with homemade scales. Can also make a scales on their own rainbow fish with paint and celery.

"Baby Faces" by Roberta Grobel Intrater

Identify the emotions happy, sad, and angry/mad

"Can you point to the happy face?" etc

First, read through the book and verbally label all of the faces, and talk about each face.
Second, show two faces and have him point to the "happy face", and etc.
Third, show him one face, and ask him to verbally say the emotion on that face.

Book Name: Franklin in the Dark

Lesson Objective: Students will identify the feeling of being scared and ways to overcome fear.


Language: sad, worried, proud, glad, brave
This book lends itself to many emotions. I would let the children lead the discussion and emphasize the feeling words they bring up throughout the story


Activities: Students will look at Franklin on the cover and discuss why Franklin looks like he does. The children will identify feeling words. Examples: Franklin looks sad because he is showing a sad face. Franklin could be lonely because he is all by himself. Teacher tells children we will read to find out what Franklin is feeling the way he is on the cover. On the first page, Franklin is happy because he has things he is good at and likes to do. We will discuss a few things the children are good at and discuss how those things make them feel. As the teacher reads the story children will notice Franklin and his feelings and how the other characters tried to help him feel better. Children will discuss times they feel scared and people that make them feel better. In the end Franklin is being brave so that emotion could also be discussed.

Book Name : A Rainbow of Friends by P.K. Hallinan Lesson Objective: Each person is an individual, we are not all the same but we love everyone the same. Language: How do you feel about someone who dresses different than you? How do you feel about someone that is not the same as you? Activity: Have the children state things that are different about their friends, why they like them and show how it is ok to be different but yet remain friends and have fun. How do you think someone would feel if we made fun of their clothes were different?

Book name: "The Way I Feel" by Janan Cain

Lesson objective: The objective of this lesson is to teach children how to identify different emotions and understand that they are all ok.

Language: Ask "What does the girl in the book look like when she is... (silly, happy, sad, etc.)."  "Have any of you ever felt this way?" "How would you feel when this happens to you (specific example from the book like when you are alone at night, when plans change, etc.)?"

Activities: Create flashcards with different emotion faces (happy, sad, angry, etc.). Have children identify and discuss times when they felt each emotion. After reading and discussing, have the children draw and color a picture about a time when they felt happy, sad, angry, etc.

This is such a great way to help children build emotional literacy! One book I’d recommend for teaching emotions is The Color Monster: A Pop-Up Book of Feelings by Anna Llenas. It's a fantastic tool for helping young children understand and label their emotions. The story introduces different emotions as colors, which can really engage children visually and emotionally.

The story of Rainbow Fish and the lessons about sharing and friendship are similar to how we can connect with the world around us. Just like Rainbow Fish learned that sharing his scales made him feel happier and brought him new friends, using a free seashell identification app helps you share the beauty of nature with others. Identifying and learning about seashells can spark conversations, create new connections, and make you feel part of something bigger, just like how sharing with others brought Rainbow Fish true happiness. It’s about discovering the beauty around us and connecting with others.