I Can Feel It

Expressing Feelings

Teacher Lesson Guide

(swipe to advance)

Objectives

  • Denotation

  • Empathy

  • Decision Making

Lesson Design

45-60 Minutes

5 Min: Review Learning Objectives
20 Min: Literary Discussion: Facing Fears
5 Min: Supporting Activity: Links of Life
10 Min: Reinforcing Activity: Follow the Sherpa
3 Min: Closing Activity

Objectives

  • Practice skills of self-diagnosis regarding emotions:

    • identifying personal feelings using a variety of vocabulary

    • identify relationships of equity to establish group concepts of truth and fairness

  • Demonstrate awareness of different feelings in others

Lingo List

Language of Feelings

tired

proud

frightened

excited

scared

glad

shy

sensitive

angry

brave

terrible

horrible

worried

grumpy

crabby

fantastic

curious

anxious

uneasy

miserable

timid

joyful

delighted

content

frustrated

lonely

confident

gloomy

emotional

preoccupied

bothered

satisfied

certain

sure

hesitant

unique

nosy

irritated

Affective Words

console

comfort

agitate

annoyed

aggravate

cheer up

sooth

Complex feelings are normal in children. Just like adults, they get frustrated, excited, nervous, sad, jealous, frightened, worried, angry and embarrassed.

However, young kids are just learning the vocabulary to be able to articulate how they are feeling. Without language, kids instead communicate their feelings through facial expressions, through their body, their behavior and play. Acting out their feelings in physical, inappropriate or problematic ways is sometimes a normal way for children to attempt to navigate the frustration that comes with the inability to communicate emotions well.

From birth, children begin learning emotional skills crucial for managing feelings and participating in healthy interpersonal communication.The bonds that are established early along with the degree of intimacy and safety qualify the foundation of social interaction. Meaningful and caring relationships with important people in their lives such as parents, grandparents, family and care providers will build strong early social and emotional grounds, whereas the lack of stable relationships will lead to significant challenges in healthy social engagement.

Early ethics is as much a statement of capacity to trust. Truth and fairness are relative to the pathways of survival. Community building and participating collaboratively come when the proper trust has been established. For children coming from or living in perpetual trauma, this process might take considerable time, even years to develop.

Guiding Questions for Class:

What are feelings? Why are feelings important? How are you feeling today? How are feelings different for you vs others?

Reading:

Facing Fears

Tilly feared spiders, they would send her to despair,

So, I picked a spider up one day and popped it in her hair,

For my mama always told me that it helps to face your fears,

But regrettably, in Tilly’s case, she shrieked with angry tears,

I was trying to build her strength; I was trying to make her brave!

But the teachers told me off, told me not to misbehave,

“It’s like this,” I tried explaining, “I was once afraid of heights,

But then I climbed a skyscraper and saw the city’s lights.”

Oh, if only grownups listened to a child’s point of view,

They would see the world a different way and learn a thing or two!

Open-Ended Questions:

After the reading, debrief the story using the open-ended questions below. 

Denotation of Feelings

What are some things that make you feel good?

What are some things that make you feel grumpy or grouchy?

Empathy Practice

How can you tell what someone is feeling? Give examples.

If someone looks like they are not feeling well what could you do?

Decision Making

What are some examples of situations that are not fair? What could be changed in these situations to make them more fair?

If you are feeling sad, angry, or agitated, where could you go to get help?

Relationship Building Activity: Links of Life

Purpose: To create a physical chain showing links that represent connections made in life between individuals in order to demonstrate how learning about our individual truths builds relationships while discussing how chance/randomness impacts fairness of life.

Materials: Facilitator has a mix of thin (½”-1”) strips and thicker strips (1.5” - 2”) - roughly 3-5 per participant, tape/stapler

Instructions:

  1. Facilitator will take 2 of each paper strips ask each participant to select between 1-3 thin, and 1-3 thick strips and hold onto them until their turn. If you are virtual, keep a list via chat (or on a piece of paper) to keep track. Try to get the students to vary the number.

  2. Facilitator will begin by modeling. Take 1 thin strip of paper and share something “light/easy” then make connect the ends and tape together the ends of the paper to make a ring.

  3. Continue modeling by taking 1 thick strip of paper and sharing something “heavier/harder” with the group.  Then attach the thick paper to the thin paper. Popcorn select another participant to share one “thin or thick” link of life to add to the chain. Continue in this manner until all the strips of paper have been used to create a chain. Connect both ends to make a circle with the chain. 

  4. Discuss the following questions with the students to debrief: 

    • Why did we have thin versus thick strips to share? 

    • What does it mean when we turn the links of life into a ring at the end?

    • What was fair/unfair about this activity?  How is that like life? 

Reinforcing Activity: Follow the Sherpa

Purpose: Meaningful relationships strengthen and support children’s early social interactions, and one of the most important components of meaningful relationships is trust. In this activity, children will begin building trust in their peers while exploring the emotions that surface when placing full trust in others.

Instructions:

1. Have students line up and hold the hand of the person in front of them and behind them (or use short ropes).

2. Explain that everyone must close their eyes for this activity, and instruct them to try and keep their eyes closed the whole time.

3. Hold the hand of the first person in line and lead the children around the classroom.

4. Invite students to take turns leading the line around the room (with the leader keeping their eyes open). Remind them to alert their peers when approaching an obstacle.

Debrief Questions:

● What emotions were you feeling when you took the first few steps with your eyes closed?

● Were you able to keep your eyes closed the whole time? What made that possible (or not possible)?

● How did you help your peers? How did they help you?

● What could your peers do to help you trust them more next time?

● What did it feel like to be the sherpa/leader?

Modifications/Extensions

★ Have the students try this activity outside to experience a different environment

★ Split the class into two groups and have both lines moving around the classroom at the same time

★ Encourage students to begin vocalizing the emotions they are feeling while they have their eyes closed

Closing Activity

Today we learned how to identify our personal feelings and practiced how to recognize our own emotions and the emotions of others.

COME FULL CIRCLE- Open-Ended Questions

  • What new words did you learn today about feelings?

  • How will being able to better identify your feelings help you when you are feeling emotional?

  • How will being able to better identify emotions help you to be a better friend/classmate?

  • Who remembers the Four Awesome Questions?

  • How can the Four Awesome Questions help you build friendships?

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