This was the grateful exclamation of one thigh-high six-year old girl named Holly yesterday when I handed her her 'brain food'. The comment was one you might hear from a tough macho man type of guy - coming from a tiny six-year old girl with a husky voice, it was hilarious!
I was handing out the morning popcorn which they all call their 'brain food' in Room 3 at Reremoana School in Manukau yesterday right after I led their 'feelings circle'.
This school was quite unique in that they are really working sensitively with the children in teaching them emotional intelligence from a young age. Each child starts the day by saying how they feel.
One boy named Sheridan shared, 'I feel happy because my fish had twenty-two babies' then followed with 'but I feel sad because they might die now that winter is coming'. One girl named Victoria shared, 'I feel happy because my tooth is loose'. (Later that day, the tooth actually fell out and became a huge celebration in the class! Another girl, Tina, also had a tooth fall out about an hour later!)
Teeth falling out is BIG excitement around age 6 or 7 :-)
Another girl shared, 'I feel sad because my brother is sick today'
and another boy shared, 'I feel happy because Luke is coming to play at my house today and Taine is coming over to play tomorrow!'
Feelings were mostly happy with a few sad and angry sprinkled in.
Another way the school supports the children is by playing classical music between periods as opposed to the typical school bell.
When children hear the violin concertos and symphonies being played over the loud speaker, they know it's time to come in from playtime
back to class. What a pleasant contrast to the norm which is an ear-piercing, soul-jolting buzzer or burglar-alarm sounding bell.
I'd love to hear of any other new developments in schools that you know about which are supporting a gentler way of educating our children beyond academics to be fully human, emotionally and artistically sensitive beings. Please send your good stories to me at
sally@sallymabelle.com.
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