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TOPIC: Feelings and Body Language
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CONCEPT: The ability to identify and name feelings and become aware of body language is
essential to the development of communication and social skills, which are protective factors
that offset risks in children's lives.
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OBJECTIVE: Students listen to a list of common feelings read aloud by the teacher, watch the
teacher model body language and observe their body language in a mirror.
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GRADE LEVEL: K - 2nd
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Method: Class room activity
Time Frame: 15 minutes plus "Post Test" and "Discussion"
Material: Go to "Feelings" page (see link below), print page and cut in strips; paper bag;
and full length mirror.
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ACTIVITY: Cut the feelings (follow this link and
print page) into strips and place in a paper bag and set aside. Do not use the mirror yet.
Discuss feelings; explain that everyone feels lots of different feelings. Sometimes we can feel
several different feelings in one day or one hour and sometimes we can feel two feelings at once.
Name the feelings: happy, sad, surprised, scared or afraid, ashamed, lonely, disappointed and mad
or angry. As you name each feeling, encourage the children to "make their faces and bodies show the
feelings." Describe what you see (frowns, smiles, folded arms, pursed lips, etc.). Model what you see
them do. Explain that this is called "body language"... you don't have to say something to show a
feeling... your body speaks through its actions... your body's actions are like "sign language"... they
can tell us things without words.
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POST-TEST: After the children have practiced the feelings without the mirror, place the
mirror in front of the class and allow each student to draw a feeling out of the sack. (You may
assist the student in reading the feeling's name.) Ask each student to model the feeling they drew
and observe him/herself in the mirror. Ask the child to explain what he/she is making her face and
body do to show the feeling to others. As each child takes his/her turn, ask:
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DISCUSSION: After the "Post-Test", ask, "Do some feelings look alike?" (Sad, lonely and
ashamed often do.) Explain that even when we think we know what a person's body and face are
saying, we cannot be sure. We must always ask how the person is feeling to be sure. What
might happen if we thought someone was feeling one feeling, but they were feeling another?
We might behave in a way we thought was the best way to behave... like leaving a person alone when we
thought they were angry, but instead they were lonely. What might they think if they were lonely
and we just left them alone? We could hurt someone's feelings.
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