Last month I completed a series of social emotional activities built around the RULER method for social emotional learning. Over the next few weeks I’d like to share them with you! You can purchase the activities in my TpT store, or use them as inspiration for your own activities. This post will focus on understanding emotions.
Read Aloud: There’s No Such Thing as a Dragon
Reading There’s No Such Thing as a Dragon by Jack Kent is a great way to introduce this concept. In the book, Billy Bixby wakes up to find a small dragon at the foot of his bed. He tells his mom about the dragon, but she claims there’s no such thing as a dragon. Throughout the day the dragon grows bigger and bigger. Billy’s mom refuses to acknowledge his existence, even as his presence becomes more and more obvious. Finally, she notices the dragon and, once acknowledged, the dragon shrinks down to a manageable size.
This story can be used to illustrate how unacknowledged feelings become unmanageable, and wreak havoc on us. If understood, these feelings can be addressed, but ignored, they simply grow. A guide to reading this book is included in the unit.
The unit includes a digital and paper anchor chart with information about understanding emotions.
Students keep a feelings journal. This one builds on the journal in the first unit. Last time they just identified where they were on the mood meter. Now they find themselves on the mood meter, and figure out why they are feeling the way they are feeling.
Students list things that land them in each quadrant on the mood meter. This helps them understand what situations, people, activities or times-of-day make them feel certain ways.
Students use these bookmarks to think about how the main character in their book is feeling and why. This gives students a way to practice this skill in a more detached way. (Too much self-analysis would be exhausting)!
The unit includes pages in color, and black and white. It also includes a digital version! You can preview the product here.
