Objective(s):  To be able to identify common facial expressions and their associated emotion.

Learning Outcomes: 

• I can make facial expressions to represent emotions 
• I can recognise facial expressions as representing particular emotions 
• I understand what the term “empathy” means

Resources: 

• Mind map from lesson 1 
• “Fuzzy felt face”  
• Emotions picture cards 
• Polaroid camera 
• Emotion Faces worksheet 

Activities: 

• “Fuzzy felt face” - Ask the student to display a face which represents how they are feeling today.  
• Ask the student if they think other people have feelings and discuss this.  Introduce that over the next few lessons we will be learning about empathy, the skill of recognising other people’s emotions and trying to understand them. 
• Talk about facial expressions for common emotions – e.g. show me a happy face, sad face, angry face, etc.   
• Look at the Emotion picture cards and discuss which emotion each one shows (shuffle them first – there are 4 cards of each of 10 emotions – you also might wish to decide which to leave in and which to remove). 
• Take photos of faces (the student or staff’s face) for each of the emotions listed on the Emotion Faces worksheet and stick the photos to the sheet. 

Assessment 

Add emoji stickers (or cut outs from a magazine) to the mind map to indicate facial expressions for each feeling word. 

Objective(s):  To be able to identify common body positions (body language) and their associated emotion (of both people and animals). 

Learning Outcomes: 

• I can recognise body language associated with common emotions 
• I understand how the animals I work with react when they are scared or nervous or when they are happy  

 Resources: 

• Mind map from Lesson 1 
• “Fuzzy felt face”  
• ‘Emotion Role Play’ sheet 
• ‘Seeing Emotions in Body Language’ sheet 

Activities: 

• “Fuzzy felt face” - Ask the student to display a face which represents how they are feeling today.  
• Revisit the mind map from lesson 1.  Take one emotion (perhaps the one the student identified today) and talk about how a person reacts when they feel like that.  What does their body do?  For example: 
• Happy – smiling, standing up straight, arms open, laughing 
• Sad – head down, arms close to body, crying, 
• Angry – puffed up face, frown, clenched fists, red face, cross arms, shake 
• Scared – head down, walking slowly backwards, eyes open wide, trembling 
• Embarrassed – head turned away, blushing, hunched shoulders 
• Revisit the word “empathy” from last week, then work through some of the scenarios on the ‘Emotion Role Play’ sheet., taking in turns to at out the scenario and discuss. 
• How do animals react?  Discuss how one of the horses or one of the dogs might act if they were scared, nervous, content, playful, etc.  
• Use the “How to Understand Your Dog’s Body Language’ information sheet if needed. 
• For students wanting to know more about how we know what animals feel, watch BBC Earth Unplugged: Do Animals have Feelings? (4 minute video)   

Assessment: 

Look at the handout ‘Seeing Emotions in Body Language’.  Discuss what is happening in each picture and the possible emotions being portrayed (there are no right answers). 

Objective(s):  To be able to name the most common emotions and to describe their effects on the body.

Learning Outcomes: 

• I can describe the effects of some common emotions on the body 
• I can recognise how I am feeling today 

Resources: 

•  Mind map from Lesson 1  
• “Fuzzy felt face”   
• Roll of paper 
• Coloured pens 
• “My Mixed Emotions” book (optional) 

Activities: 

•  “Fuzzy felt face” - Ask the student to display a face which represents how they are feeling today.   
• Draw around the student onto the roll of paper or, if they are not comfortable, draw an outline of a body shape on the paper. 
• Discuss the emotions the student can remember the names of and ask where on the body they might feel these emotions, where the feeling starts from and where it affects.  Use pages 8 - 11 in “My Mixed Emotions” to help 
• They might name several places for different emotions.  Add the emotion names onto the body outline in the places identified – you could also do this in representative colours.    
• This activity will take some time and might lead onto discussions about how the student feels, how they might deal with different feelings, etc.  You might also wish to talk about emotions that the student hasn’t mentioned and add them to it. 

Assessment: 

 Revisit the mind map and add parts of the body affected to each feeling label.  Add any new ‘feelings’ words to the mind map. 

Objective(s):  To understand that everyone has emotions and that they do not respond in the same way as each other.

Learning Outcomes: 

• I understand that everyone has emotions 
• I can use clues to try and tell how someone else is feeling 
• I know that not everyone feels the same way as me in certain situations 

Resources: 

• “Fuzzy felt face” 
• Heads Up emotion cards 
• Emotion Picture Cards  
• Device to view Sesame Street video – for younger students 

Activities: 

“Fuzzy felt face” - Ask the student to display a face which represents how they are feeling today.  

Play a game of Heads Up to recap facial expressions and body language. Shuffle the cards and place them face down.  Each person chooses a card.  Hold it to your forehead so you cannot see it but the other person can.  Take it in turns to show facial expressions and body language of the other person’s feelings card, allowing them to guess what the word is. 

Revisit the word “empathy” and say that we will be looking for clues as to how other people are feeling in order to try and understand them. 

(For younger students. watch the Sesame Street / Mark Ruffalo video about empathy (it’s fun and breaks it down nicely!): 

Discuss the following situations.  Ask the student: 

• How would you know how the child in the scenario is feeling?  What clues would you look for? 
• How would you ask them how they were feeling? 
• How would you show them that you care? 

The teacher shouts at a student in front of the entire class. 

My big brother wasn’t picked for the football team. 

Everyone was invited to a birthday party except one person. 

Your friend, who studied very hard for her test, failed. 

A very good friend of yours was grounded by her parents that morning. 

A friend was made fun of during break time. 

A friend tripped and fell in front of the entire school. 

Assessment 

Emotions Picture Cards – choose a card (this can be done more than once) at random and ask the student to come up with a scenario as to what has happened.  Why is the person reacting that way?  Think about what they might be saying, doing, etc.  What would their voice be like?  What would their body be doing? 

Objective(s):  To develop a connection with the natural environment, through taking part in Earthwalk activities.

Learning Outcomes: 

• I can focus my attention and listen carefully when engaging in the natural environment 
• I can take part in activities to deepen my connection with the natural environment 

Resources: 

• Earthwalks laminated sheet 
• Earthwalks resource box 

Activities: 

According to Cornell (1998) Earthwalk activities ‘bring us into harmony with our natural surroundings both physically and emotionally’.  Later in the Emotional Curriculum, we ask students to identify a space in the woods for reflection – to make this experience more meaningful, students need to feel emotionally connected to their environment. 

Follow the Earthwalks handout, taking part in the activities. 

Assessment 

Record the emotions felt during each activity on your mind map.

Objective(s):  To consider how an individual expresses their feelings.

Learning Outcomes: 

• I can recognise when I am feeling an identified emotion because of how I show it.

Resources:  

• A Therapeutic Treasure Deck of Sentence Completion and Feeling Cards’ box – just the Feelings Cards 
• Feelings recognition worksheet
• Dry-wipe marker pen 
• “Sticky hand” 

Activities: 

• Lay out the Feelings Cards face down.  Choose a card at random – you could throw a “sticky hand” to help you choose. 
• Use the Feelings Recognition Worksheet to discuss and record how you express this particular feeling through your body, words, facial expressions and behaviours.  You might choose to write, draw, or represent your responses using Play-doh. 
• Repeat this activity for three or four emotions.  
• (If a student needs to focus on specific emotions, then you might wish to deliberately select rather than choose cards at random).

Objective(s):  To consider how different people express their feelings.

Learning Outcomes: 

• I can recognise when other people are feeling an identified emotion because of how they show it.

Resources:  

• A Therapeutic Treasure Deck of Sentence Completion and Feeling Cards’ box – just the Feelings Cards 
• How Different People Express Feelings worksheet (laminated) 
• Dry-wipe marker pen 
• “Sticky hand” or a lavender bag 

Activities: 

• Lay out the Feelings Cards face down.  Choose a card at random – you could throw a “sticky hand” or a lavender bag to help you choose. 
• Use the How Different People Express Feelings Worksheet to discuss and record how you have seen a named person (family, friend, teacher, for example) express this particular feeling through their body, words, facial expressions and behaviours.  You might choose to write, draw, or represent your responses using Play-doh. 
• Repeat this activity for three or four emotions.  
• (If a student needs to focus on specific emotions, then you might wish to deliberately select rather than choose cards at random).