LESSON TITLE- Exploring and understanding feelings – lesson 1

Lesson number EG 1/3, 2/3, etc

Wellbeing Area/ concept Activity Outcome Materials/Equipment needed

E.g. Exploring and understanding Feelings

Activity starter – 5 mins - Introducing each other to one another and ask the students to think about how they feel in that moment. Ask the group to describe what feelings they are and why they think we have them.

For 5 minutes discuss everyday feelings and apply facial expressions to these feelings and the support systems we have to cope with our emotions. For example, what someone might look like if they are sad, and how you might feel on the inside.

For 10 minutes using the worksheet explore different scenarios that the children in the class might relate to and adding the words to then adding the descriptive words that best fits the scenarios from the word bank below.

Discuss what other experiences might make someone feel happy or upset. How your behaviour might impact somebody’s day, such as paying someone a compliment on their hair might make their day

Explain and understand the link between how their bodies can make them feel when they experience certain emotions.

Identify how to help others who may be experiencing these emotions.

Learning the names of the emotions they might experience.

Learning how to explain the emotions we are feeling in order to seek help/comfort from someone else.

Pens/ pencils

Worksheet (attached below)

however, not letting a friend sit with you or excluding them from a game might make them sad. Touch on what to do if someone says something mean to them or is consistently unkind, who to tell.

For 2 minutes sum up the lesson as a group and reflect on the pupils new learning. Ask them follow up questions such as ‘what pupil on the worksheet do you think might need help with managing their feelings’ and ‘who this person should talk to if they are experiencing feelings similar to ‘James’ from the worksheet. Also, how they might comfort a friend if they were experiencing feeling such as the children on the worksheet.

KEY VOCABULARY Emotions Wellbeing Feelings Trust Happy Sad Support Bullying Friendship Kindness Fun Support Comfort

Class yoga – lesson 2

Skill Area Activity Outcome Materials

Class Yoga – to boost confidence and student relations.

Together as a class learning how to do different yoga pos-tures and activities that pro-mote confidence and strength.

For 5 minutes – working up to be able to go from the starting point of doing small yoga positions mostly involving the hands and upper body to using the whole body.

For 10 minutes of learning the yoga positions, start encouraging the students to say the phases linked to the movements out loud as they do the yoga movements. Such as ‘I am strong’ when practicing the warrior pose. This will be a positive thing for the students to hear themselves say to themselves. By repeating this they will be building up and reaffirming their confidence, wellbeing and positive feelings.

For 5 minutes after this they can break into small groups and play yoga games, such as ‘follow the leader’, one student will be the leader of each round and choose a yoga move to break into, the rest are to copy this move.

To reflect on the activity for 2 minutes - pupils can comment on what they liked and what went well with somebody else’s pose. They can also talk about what poses felt good.

To learn different postures that will build strength and confidence. It will also connect the mind and the body.

If they able to share positive feedback with each other it will give the class an opportunity to connect and make friends. It will also allow students to feel good about themselves over what another child has noticed.

Playing the leader yoga games allows each student to have a turn at having the attention on them and allows them to show their ability and favourite pose. It allows the little groups to have fun and build connections with each other over moves and laughter.

Yoga Posters (attached below)

Yoga mats

Calming music (optional)

Nature walk – lesson

Skill Area Activity Outcome Materials

Nature walk – to build student relations, interact with the environment around them and explore their feelings through the surroundings.

To go on a nature trail-based walk, encouraging the students to describe what they can hear, feel and smell. Encourage their minds by asking the children to feel tree bark, take texture patterns and collect dried leaves.

Using optional worksheets, allow the children to list what they have spotted outside, draw what they have seen, collect outdoor samples.

The students being able to explore the outdoors reduces stress and anxiety, children are able to show self-expression without the restrictions of being indoors, such as being able to hop, skip, jump and make noise.

Additionally, it has being scientifically found that being around nature helps support children who have attention deficit disorders, as it enhances peaceful, nurturing behaviour in children.

Being in the outdoors encourages socialisation, children are able to play games by their own rules with no adult instruction.

Being outdoors encourages personal flourishing, and encourages the wellbeing of children through social roles, learning to manage their feelings, respecting others and

Worksheets (attached below)

Pencils

friendship, the discussion of feelings and the awareness towards each other.

Rationale –

Firstly I when focusing on pupil wellbeing I wanted to create a positive atmosphere for the students to feel comfortable in, a space in which they felt comfortable to share their views and opinions without the fear of negative feedback and protecting them possible distress, my own personal aim was to discuss feelings in activity one and give advice on what to do if someone was feeling unhappy, who to talk to, not to share amongst a large group that might cause embarrassment, hence why in the starter activity I asked the students to think about how they felt that day, not to share it with the group. I also wanted to create an atmosphere of respect, I didn’t want the students to feel they had to contribute if they did not want to, and also not to talk over other students.

I chose to base my classroom activities on the overall wellbeing of students, more importantly how to identify and talk about how they are feeling, and activities they can do to boost their self-worth and overall well-being. Childhood and teenage years are critical time periods for developing attitudes, knowledge and behaviour patterns for a healthy adult life (Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, 2017). During this period of their lives children make judgements over what is desirable and normal behaviour. The choices they make all depend on what is available to them, what is cost effective, trendy and what they have witnessed being practiced by those around them. It is important that schools teach good behaviour practices that support the growth of health and wellbeing and encourage the practice of it in school and out, using what is available to their students and not adding extra unaffordable cost. Positive wellbeing is extremely important, not only does it boost academic performance, but it allows children to explore their feelings and live a happy life. Health and wellbeing practice is not a singular class but a topic made up of several areas. I wanted to touch upon some of these topics that were more appropriate for younger, key stage one children. More specifically mental, emotional, social and physical wellbeing; planning for choices and changes; physical education, physical activity and sport and food and health. I feel that these are topics that important to start learning and practicing at a young age, so it becomes natural to practice in daily life without realising. Health and wellbeing also means that children should feel safe whilst at school and are able to make the most of their education regardless of their background or home life. (GOV.SCOT, 2019). I chose the topic of feelings as my main activity as I feel it is important to discuss and normalise how we feel, and to normalise talking to someone if they need to. I wanted to build confidence with my activities, for my students to go away with the ‘can do’ mentality. Not only is wellbeing based on physical movement I also wanted to make one of my activity’s literacy based, to have guided conversation lead by myself, rather than all my activities having independent child lead discussions and play. I did a range of activities, from adult lead to independent.

References

Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University (2017). Three Principles to Improve Out- comes for Children and Families. http://www.developingchild.harvard.edu

GOV.SCOT. (2019, January). Schools. Retrieved from https://www.gov.scot/policies/schools/wellbeing-in-schools/

KidsYogaStories. (2020, April 3). Kids Yoga Stories. Get Started with Teaching Kids Yoga. Retrieved from https://www.kidsyo-gastories.com/