Sharing

K you have grown so much since you joined our program; you've learned to walk and now run! You are talking and sharing more of your personality every day. Everyone in class has really enjoyed getting to know you, especially baby A.

I noticed the two of you playing with cars together today. Sharing materials is hard for little people, so when he crawled over to join you I moved a little closer just to provide some support.

When baby A reached into the basket for a car you moved the basket away and made a very unhappy face.

"He just wants to play with you, he really wants to be your friend. Maybe we could give him a car to look at. Is there one you wouldn't mind sharing with him?"

You seemed thoughtful, then smiled, and handed A a car. He was excited and immediately decided to try to eat it.

What it Means

K! It was so kind of you to share your toy with baby A. You are showing social interest by offering toys to your friends and playing imitation games with them (1.1 Social Interest, ELECT page 35); these skills will grow as you parallel play with your peers and soon you will be playing cooperative games with them.

When I talked with you a little about how baby A was feeling you were able to understand his perspective! That's such a huge skill for such a tiny person. (1.2 Perspective Taking, ELECT page 35).

You were able to share your feelings through your expression and actions (2.1 Expression of Feelings, ELECT page 36), then with some gentle coaxing you were able to regulate your emotions and you felt happy to share with your friend (2.2 Self-Regulation, ELECT page 36).

Opportunities and Possibilities

I am going to make sure to label your feelings for you when you express them to help you build a vocabulary to share your emotions with others. I think that I will also add some emotion related books in to our classroom as each of you seem interested in reading and looking at stories. We can even make our own feelings book with pictures of each of you making a face that expresses an emotion.