Promoting Social Emotional Competence Promoting Children’s Success: Enhancing Emotional Literacy

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Emotional Literacy Emotional literacy is the ability to identify, understand, and express emotions in a healthy way. What is emotional literacy?

Children with a Strong Foundation in Emotional Literacy: tolerate frustration better get into fewer fights engage in less destructive behavior are healthier are less lonely are less impulsive are more focused have greater academic achievement

Emotional Literacy Skills Labeling feelings in self and others Understanding gradations of feelings Recognizing facial and physiological signs Modulating response Understanding that feelings can change Developing coping strategies Demonstrating empathy

Activity “Table Talk” With your table mates… Write a list of feeling words that you would most want to teach the K-1 children you work with.

Direct Teaching of Feeling Vocabulary 7

Classroom Example

Indirect Teaching Provide emotional labels as children experience various affective states - “Tamika and Tanya seem really happy to be playing together! They keep hugging each other!”

Emotion Bingo 10

Teachers and children can “check in” each morning by choosing a feeling face that best describes their affective state and putting it next to their name. Children can be encouraged to change their feeling faces throughout the day as their feelings change. Checking In How do you feel today?

Feeling Dice/Feeling Wheel

On Monday When it Rained Glad Monster Sad Monster Hands Are Not for Hitting Book Nooks

14 Discussion: There’s No Time! “I don’t have time to teach all of these things. I’m already busy teaching literacy, science, health, math and completing IGDIs, protfolios, and other assessments!”

15 Activity: Action Planning Consider the following ideas when developing this month’s action plan: Explain how you will introduce these emotions during large group time. How will you teach children to recognize these emotions in themselves? In others? What books will you use to help teach about these emotions? How will you help children explore these emotions in center time? Design an art activity around these emotions.

16 Questions?