Activities

1). Support the student to create a mind map (or list) of all of the ‘feeling words’ they know.  Discuss each word before writing them down, recognising non-feeling words so they are not added.   

This will be kept in their file and revisited throughout Stage 1 of the Emotional Curriculum and added to. 

2). “What does it look like? What does it feel like?” - go through the six “core” emotions (and any others they have named if there is time) - using the ‘feeling faces’ sheets (or emoji stickers), ask the student to match a face to the feeling words on the mind map.  Cut out and stick the face next to the word.  Can they tell you what each feeling feels like, again concentrating on the six core ones. 

Core emotions: angry, sad, happy, afraid, surprised, disgusted 

3). Optional activity - “How are you feeling today?” by Molly Potter – read the book and discuss each page.  This might include talking about how the student is feeling today, or how they have been feeling over the past few days. 

4). Introduce the “fuzzy felt face”.  Ask the student to display a face which represents how they are feeling today (if they are able to access this at this point).  Avoid naming the face – keep this neutral – it is not them, for example, it is just a means of displaying a feeling. 

Students will, from now on, use this to convey an emotion they are feeling (or might wish to talk about) at the beginning of each lesson (when they are able to access this).