Pre-summer Activities with Mental State Verbs

Summer is approaching. Camps are being selected. Vacation plans are moving toward completion. New backyard fun is being purchased (and put together!) Sunscreen is being bought in large quantities. With all of this change on the way, it’s a wonderful time to think about and work with our students on some super important mental state verbs (MSV) – I haven’t talked about those for a few months! Verbs such as “hope,” “plan,” and “miss.” We know many of our students benefit from previewing, especially when changing circumstances and routines are coming up, so let’s do that, and throw MSV into the mix! Here are some activities I’m using this month, as we talk about the comfortable and uncomfortable feelings that can arise when school is over and summer descends, as well as some mental state verb practice.

1. Feelings musical chairs. Upon a strong recommendation from a student, and supporting my belief that one can never have too many materials about feelings, I recently bought some new feelings flashcards:

I use my new flashcards, but you can use whatever feelings materials you favor. Select an assortment appropriate to your students (I like about 6-8 for a group of 4.) Make sure you have comfortable and uncomfortable feelings in the mix. The idea is to pass them around or walk around a table where they are laid out with music playing. When the music stops, each student gets the feeling closest to them. Discuss! What experience might lead them to experience that feeling during summer break? If it’s an uncomfortable one, brainstorm ways to handle the situation and feelings. If it’s a comfortable one, make sure to take time to talk about how wonderful that will be! Remember, “feel” is a mental state verb, but a feather in whatever other mental state verbs fit the situation!

So many uses for narrow painter's tape. (click on the image)- I like to buy lots of colors!

2. I hope, I want, I will miss: This activity encourages students to identify and talk about what they hope will happen in summer, as well as what they think they might miss. Since one is relatively comfortable and the other relatively uncomfortable, this is a great opportunity to cover the breadth of our human experience. And to remind everyone that sometimes hopes don’t become our reality. How can we deal with that? And that our missing of someone or something often has an endpoint (but obviously not always.) I love having students sketch as part of this activity. It usually jumpstarts some great conversations!

3. Maca & Roni & MSV! Always a good time for my most lovable characters. Yes, those Maca & Roni animations are FULL of mental state verbs! Make sure, as always, that you preview for appropriateness. How many MSV do your students find in this one? Hint….realize, enjoy, hope…

4. Take a look back! And another forward! Endpoints, like those last few weeks of a school year, give us the opportunity to look back. To remember. To realize. To reflect on what we decided. And after summer comes an unfolding school year. Looking forward, we can wonder. We can imagine and plan. We can guess. ALL these are mental state verbs! Again, sketching will support wonderful, deeper discussions. Drawings help make the abstractness of these mental processes more real, thus easier to explore. Remember, young children, learning mental state verbs just start using them,

often incorrectly as first. Then they sort them out. Let’s give our students added opportunities to explore what happens “in our heads.”

Take good care and remember, summer is well on its way!