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Developing emotional literacy skills with your new class
Are you looking for ideas to build emotional literacy in your class? Consider creating an environment where pupils can talk openly about their feelings and have the vocabulary to do this. Use the following important discussions as the foundation for class rules and charters.
The book ‘An Emotional Menagerie’ by The School of Life is perfect for use across the whole-school.
Here are some suggested poems for year groups with activities for pupils:
| Year group | Poems | Activities |
|---|---|---|
| EYFS | A is for Anger H is for Happiness N is for Naughtiness S is for Shyness | • Read the first verse only of the poems and explore the pictures. • List animals pupils know, collect teddies and photographs. • List their characteristics. • Paint colours and match to feeling labels. • Match photos of the pupils' faces. • Make collages of faces and display. Add to this throughout the year. |
| Years 1 and 2 | D is for Daydreaming F is for Fear K is for Kindness L is for Loneliness Q is for Quarrelsome X is for Excitement | • Create groups of words using the titles and the dotted words in the poem (these are synonyms). • Look up definitions. • Make word bank posters for each emotion. • Draw own colours and faces to match. • Begin to develop ‘show not tell’ phrases for each feeling e.g. red cheeks – embarrassment. |
| Years 5 and 6 | I is for Insecurity M is for Melancholy O is for Obsession R is for Remorse V is for Vulnerability Y is for Yearning Z is for Zeal | • Create word banks using the titles and the dotted words in the poem (synonyms) and add further words using a thesaurus. • In V is for Vulnerability, the poet uses ‘Beetles’ as a verb. • Use other animals as verbs to create ‘show not tell’ actions e.g. he slothed in the corner. • Write own poetry verses for favourite synonyms found. |
To complement this blog, we have put together a visual guide for emotional literacy that you can hang in your classroom to encourage pupils to start recognising their emotions and applying new words to those sensations. The guide includes labelled emotion characters for easy recognition and a long list of words to help pupils describe their feelings in new ways.
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