GOBBLES: Troubles with Turkeys explores the heart value and life fruit of peace, finding the courage and strength amidst stressful moments. Worry and anxiety in children's lives are real, and children need to learn healthy ways to articulate how they feel and manage the emotions around it.
Overview: In this light-hearted and silly picture book, a young boy named Jordan discovers that two wild turkeys follow his every step to school. Jordan is rightfully annoyed by the unrelenting gobbling, as he already has a lot on his mind. He attempts to lose and tolerate them, but then begins to understand this pair of turkeys in a different way, helping him overcome his day's troubles.
Background: Jordan worries about wearing his new glasses to school and about his big recital that evening. These worries manifest in pestering turkeys. This story not only represents distractions and challenges that children can face during their day, but also how a child might see hard times as a way to take courage and shine through cloudy days.
Jordan's story in GOBBLES: Troubles with Turkeys addresses three of five of CASEL's identified interrelated sets of cognitive, affective and behavioral competencies - Self Awareness, Self Management, & Responsibile Decision-Making. GOBBLES: Troubles with Turkeys can provide a safe launching point with facilitation in classrooms or at home with parents to support building an open line of communication that can help their children succeed. Stay tuned for Wildberry Ink's Teaching Toolkit - Learning with GOBBLES, activities and reflection prompts to reinforce specific academic, social & emotional concepts for children K-3.
"Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) is the nation’s leading organization advancing the development of academic, social and emotional competence for all students. Our mission is to help make evidence-based social and emotional learning (SEL) an integral part of education from preschool through high school. Through research, practice and policy, CASEL collaborates to ensure all students become knowledgeable, responsible, caring and contributing members of society."