Naming emotions

properly

3 - 6

Teachers! The purpose of this page:

To help students accurately identify and name their emotions.

WHY:

Picture this. You go to the doctor because your ankle is causing you pain. But when you get there your mouth is taped up and your hands are tied. The doctor asks you what is wrong and you cannot answer. As you can imagine it is hard to get help or even to help yourself if you can't explain what the problem is.

This happens when we don't name our emotions properly. And in fact, we might act angry or super sad, where in fact we are lonely, stressed or jealous. It is hard to move through these emotions if we don't know what they are!

How to use this page:

Make your way through each activity once a week or once a term.

Print the PDF versions out of each activity and have them accessible for students. Between lunch and the next work cycle invite students to work in pairs and practice that particular activity.

Describe a feeling:

Download and print feeling sheets

and

Examples of ways to describe a feeling

In pairs, students describe a scene or a description of the feeling without using the actual word.

e.g. I am thinking of a feeling, you might feel like this when you are beyond angry, you may be struggling to contain yourself, you want to explode. The feeling I am thinking of is.... (LIVIVD)

*Some of the bigger feeling words have definitions to allow for this activity to run smoothly

Practice naming your feelings:

Download and print emotional check in

Give each student a copy to stick into a journal/book. Invite students to keep a record of the colour of their octopus each day. This can be extended into a reflection: What led to this feeling? Would you like to shift it or stay with it?

And/or give yourself an internal weather report

In pairs:

What do you think the feeling is here? (It is stronger than sad!)

Is this a comfortable or uncomfortable feeling?

What can you do when you feel like this?

What do you think the feeling is here?

Is this a comfortable or uncomfortable feeling?

How might this feeling help you?

What do you think the feeling is here?

Is this a comfortable or uncomfortable feeling?

What can you do when you feel like this?

The feelings were:

Devastated

Curious

Overwhelmed

It might look like...

Feelings sometimes present as anger, sadness or general grumpiness, whereas that is just the tip of the ice berg. Deep underneath the presenting iceberg are completely different feelings. See if you can come up with an alternative for each example below.

E.g. It might look like someone is livid, where actually they are humiliated.

It might look like someone is super angry, but actually they are....

It might look like someone is super sad, but actually they are...

It might look like someone is grumpy but actually they are...

It might look like someone is apathetic where actually they are...

Can you come up with your own examples?