EQ

Growth Mindset Series #1

Now that we have explored the different SMARTS, we are going to learn about how our brains work and what we can do to help grow our brains. Here is our first video, which helps to explain how this works.

Why don’t you ask Mum and Dad to watch this video too, so that they will understand how special your brains are?

Here is the worksheet where you think about what you learned in the video.

Growth Mindset video 1 worksheet

Talking to Other People Can Help

We are going to listen to the story THE TERRIBLE THING by Margaret Holmes about something that happened to the character and how it made him feel, then how he worked through it.

Questions:

  1. What could the terrible thing have been?  What things do we think are terrible that we might experience in our lives?
  2. Why does talking about a problem to someone we trust help make us feel better?
  3. Have you ever felt bad about something and then felt better after you have talked to someone about it?
  4. Who are the people in your life that you can talk to if you have a problem or feel bad about something that has happened?

LOOKING ON THE BRIGHT SIDE OF LIFE

This story is about all the terrible, horrible, no good things that happen to this boy. As you listen (sorry about the American accent), think about what kind of problems he is having. How could we categorise them (put them into groups of similar kinds of problems) from Alexander’s point of view.

After listening and thinking about the kinds of problems he has, let’s try to work out what Alexander COULD HAVE DONE or how he COULD HAVE ACTED in each situation if he had looked for the good bit each time something bad happened. For example: When he didn’t get a toy in his cereal pack, he could have said, “Maybe I’ll get one next time.” When he mucked up his father’s office he could have said, “I’ll remember next time to be more careful”.

Being a POSITIVE TRACKER or LOOKING ON THE BRIGHT SIDE helps us to remember that bad times don’t last. Things can change and eventually will get better.

REMEMBER,

even if you can’t change what has happened, you CAN change how you feel about it.