1. I know when my friends are feeling happy
Year 1 – Friends and family
I know when my friends are feeling happy
Teacher notes:
Through this lesson you will take the children on a journey that allows them to identify their own feelings of happiness/ joyfulness and then feelings of happiness/ joyfulness that their friends and family may feel. You will need to wrap up a present for this lesson (look on slide 5 for ideas of what this could be). You will also need a template of Elmer the elephant for the children to colour. They will have a set of cards with different emotions and behaviours on that they can stick onto the elephant template. The children need to work both individually and as a team in this lesson focussing all the time on feelings and behaviours associated with happiness and joyfulness.
© Leeds South and East CCG

2. Learning outcomes Knowledge Skills
I can identify and talk about times when people feel happy
I can learn to communicate my feelings to others
I can recognise how others show feelings and know how to respond
I can talk about things that make me happy
I can tell the difference between laughing at or with someone
Teacher notes:
Read these through with the children, ensure that they are understood. 2

3. How we will work together
Can you remember the group agreement we have already talked about, let’s take a minute to think about them.
Teacher notes
Read these through with the children. Hopefully the ground rules will be displayed in the classroom already. 3

4. What do we already know?
Which of these faces do you think is happy and which is sad? Why?
Teacher notes:
Ask the children the questions and note down some of their answers. Try and establish why they think what they think, is it from their own experience of people? Do not influence their answers at this stage. Ask them how they know if people are happy or sad, what other behaviours might a person show that illustrates feelings of happiness? What feelings and behaviours are associated with sadness? Make a note of these words on the board so that they can be used later in the lesson. Tell the children that they are going to concentrate on looking at feelings of happiness throughout the lesson., can they think of times they have felt like this? 4

5. Let’s get started Who would like to receive a present?
Skill Practice Can you talk about things that make you happy
Who would like to receive a present?
Teacher notes:
Wrap up a present and give it to a child in the class, this can be something simple for the class like a new book, it could be a voucher for an extra play or a story that you think the class would enjoy hearing or some kind of class treat. Ask the child (choose someone that you know is vocal and forward in their conversation) how they are feeling as they receive it and how they feel as they open it. Ask the rest of the class how they would feel and why? How can they tell what their friend is feeling? What behaviour is the child opening the present showing? When the present has been opened ask the class how they now feel, are they able to express this feeling to you in words, can you make a list of these feelings on the board. Hopefully if you have wrapped up something that the whole class will enjoy then you should get lots of words associated with happiness. Ask the children to think of other times that they have been happy, how does it feel to be happy ? What makes them happy? How do they behave when they are happy? Be prepared to discuss the fact that someone may actually feel sad as they were not chosen to open the present. 5

6. What do we do when we are happy?
Teacher notes:
Watch this very well known story. Click on the Elmer to open link. Focus the children at the start of the clip by asking them to observe Elmer and the other animals behaviour, ask them how the animals and Elmer are feeling. All the animals in the cartoon are happy. At the end of the clip discuss: How do we know they are happy? How can we tell that they are happy from their behaviour? How do they respond to each other? Elmer chooses to go off and change his looks and then plays a trick on his elephant friends, how do they respond? Really focus the children on the way the animals are all happy in this animation and how they react to each other’s happiness. Can they think of things that make them happy? Things that make their friends happy? How do they react when their friends are happy? You could also focus them on how jolly the music is and how it makes the class feel as they listen to the story. How do the class respond to the animals being so happy? Finally, ask the children why Elmer decided to change his patchwork colours. This is the perfect opportunity to discuss laughing with someone compared to laughing at someone. Elmer thinks everyone is laughing at him when actually they are laughing with him, this is a hard concept and some of the children may find this tricky. Can they think of a time someone has laughed at them?
Watch the video clip
© 2017 Andersen Press. All Rights Reserved. 6

7. What do we do when we are happy?
Skill Practice
Can you tell the difference between laughing at someone and laughing with them?
This is Elmer the elephant
Teacher notes:
Wrap up a present and give it to a child in the class, this can be something simple for the class like a new book, it could be a voucher for an extra play or a story that you think the class would enjoy hearing or some kind of class treat. Ask the child (choose someone that you know is vocal and forward in their conversation) how they are feeling as they receive it and how they feel as they open it. Ask the rest of the class how they would feel and why? How can they tell what their friend is feeling? What behaviour is the child opening the present showing? When the present has been opened ask the class how they now feel, are they able to express this feeling to you in words, can you make a list of these feelings on the board. Hopefully if you have wrapped up something that the whole class will enjoy then you should get lots of words associated with happiness. Ask the children to think of other times that they have been happy, how does it feel to be happy ? What makes them happy? How do they behave when they are happy? Be prepared to discuss the fact that someone may actually feel sad as they were not chosen to open the present.
© 2017 Andersen Press. All Rights Reserved. 7

8. What did Elmer teach us about being happy?
Use the picture of the elephant to create your own happy, colourful elephant
When we are happy we have certain feelings and behave in certain ways
Teacher notes:
Read the above to the children and tell them that they are going to make a herd of elephants representing a happy heard like Elmer’s, just like a happy class. They need to colour in their own elephant. The elephants will be stuck onto lollypop sticks/straws and used in the next activity as the children can role play with them. the class will stick them onto a couple of big pieces of display paper at the end of the lesson, along with some of the words that they have used to describe happy feelings and behaviours. As the children colour, encourage them to talk about why the elephants were so happy and what it means to be happy and how people express these feelings. Keep talking about how good it feels when others are happy and how this makes us feel and how we should respond to happy people. How can we tell our friends are happy?
© 2017 Andersen Press. All Rights Reserved. 8

9. Can I recognise when others are happy?
Skill Practice
Can you talk about things that make you happy?
Think of a time that you were really happy. Using your elephant role play this with your partner.
Teacher notes:
Now that the children have some little elephants coloured in, ask them again how we can tell when someone is happy? Get some of them to share with you a time that they felt really happy. Using the elephant cut outs, that could now be stuck on to a lollypop stick, ask them to role play in groups of 2-4, ( depending on what you decide) a time that they were happy or create a little role play involving something that happens that would make them happy. Remind them to think about behaviours and actions that they would show if they were happy or how they would respond to others if they were happy. Think back to the elephants in the clip, they could even role play the story of Elmer and his friends. Watch some of these plays at the end of the time allotted. Ask the children as they watch how they can tell that the elephants in the role play are happy? 9

10. So, what do you feel you have learnt today?
Which of these faces do you think is happy and which is sad? Why?
Teacher notes
Ask the same question as you did at the beginning of the lesson. Can the children think of lots more words to describe people that are happy and joyful. Are these words describing feelings and behaviours? Do they know how peoples feelings can affect other people? Do they know how to respond to them? Can they think of a time when they felt happy or sad because of others? 10

11. Let’s look for happiness outside the classroom
Can you try and spot some times in the playground this week when you notice your friends or teachers being happy?
Teacher notes:
Tell the children that you are going to ask them after playtime and lunch, over the course of the week, if they have been able to spot people that are particularly happy. What made them happy? How have they behaved? How did it make them feel? You could even extend this to spotting members of their family being happy at home. 11

12. Additional resources and help
Talk to your teacher or an adult in school
Talk to your Mum, Dad or someone you trust at home about how you are feeling
If you have them: – Write your worry down and post it in the class worry box – Talk to a peer mediator in your school – Write your worry down on the worry wall on the school’s website
Contact:
im-a-young-person
Where can I go for help? 12