Time:
- Prepare: 10 min
- Implement: 10 min
Type(s) of Essential(s):
Social & Emotional Growth
Prerequisite:
- None
Overview
In this activity builds experience understanding and articulating their feelings and learning their peers’ feelings.
Our Essentials in this Activity
Learners identify what they are feeling, communicate how they are feeling to the community, and learn how their peers are feeling. By responding, learners enhance their self- and social-awareness and emotional understanding by sharing their daily emotions with their peers, discover what their peers and educators are feeling, and find commonalities between peers and facilitators.
Goals and Outcomes
Goal: Learners identify and share how they are feeling and discover how their peers are feeling.
Outcomes: Learners are more aware of their feelings, the feelings of their peers, commonalities and differences between their emotions, and different ways to express their emotions (i.e., explaining the reason for their feelings verbally, typing in the chat, circling an emotion on the board, etc.)
Materials
Learners can complete this activity three ways: 1) using an online document, 2) using a digital whiteboard, or 3) in-person using a clear space available in the setting. Decide the option that works best and is accessible for all learners.
Option 1: If learners will complete this activity online, select an online, digital document like Google Docs or Microsoft Word.
Option 2: Another option is to select a digital whiteboard, like Jamboard, and a “Mood Sheet”. Mood Sheets can be found online or websites that host teaching materials. Choose a mood sheet based on the age group and/or learners’ needs (i.e., simple or complex language, visual cues, etc.). Places to identify “Mood Sheets” include:
- Teachers Pay Teachers
- Osmo
- Web searches
Option 3: For the in-person option, identify a “Feeling Face Card” template to use with learners. Here are some places to locate these cards:
Feeling Face Cards
- National Center for Pyramid Model Innovations Resource Library (search “feeling faces”)
- Feelings and Emotions Poster and Lesson Plan or other resources on Teachers Pay Teachers
- Therapist Aid
Preparation
Option 1: If using an online document, at the top of the document, write “Tell us how you feel today” or another title that is appropriate for learners.
Option 2: If using a digital whiteboard for this activity, upload a mood sheet as a background.
Option 3: If conducting in person, write names of emotions on a dry erase board. You could also print face cards and place them on a table or hand them in clear wall spaces.
Implementation and Completion
Conduct the activity each day of the session at the beginning.
Option 1: If this activity is implemented using an online, digital tool, ask learners to type a word or present an emoji that describes how they are feeling.Option 2: If this activity is implemented using a digital whiteboard, make sure the mood sheet is accessible and editable for the learners. Share the link of the digital mood board with the learners. As a large group, ask learners to circle a word or make another mark on a word that best describes how they are feeling. Share how you are feeling and invite the learners and educators to tell the group how they are feeling or what they notice their peers are feeling.
Option 3: If completing this activity using your space, here are some options:
- Write emotions on a dry erase board and ask learners to make a mark next to the word that describes their feelings.
- You could print face cards and ask learners to place a bead or another object on top of the emotion that best describes how they are feeling.
- Print faces of different emotions and hang them in the room. By each face, place a basket or bowl in front of each. Give learners marbles or other small objects and ask them to place the object in the basket that matches their emotions.