Lesson 1: Brain and Core Emotions

This is an opening lesson to introduce the brain development and emotions.

The REAL TOOL: Emotion Circle

Gives language to what students are feeling. If you can name it you can tame it.

Activity

During the 1970s, psychologist Paul Eckman identified six core emotions that he suggested were universally experienced in all human cultures. The emotions he identified were happiness, sadness, disgust, fear, surprise, and anger. These are considered the foundation emotions or building blocks of our emotions where all other emotions stem from. These are the emotions that amygdala produce.

ACTIVITY: Length 45-60 mins

Materials

• Mind Monsters - one for class in colour or teacher colours

• Emotion Wheels- one per student

• Bodily Topography-one for class in colour

• Colour your Emotions-one per student

• Scissors, glue sticks, coloured pencils

• Large piece of Kraft paper or an area to hang emotions

1. Brainstorm

Using the Mind Monsters, ask students their core emotions. As they list one of the core mind monsters hang on the board. Read over the mind monsters discussing other words or feelings that are listed. Can the students list other emotions. Provide each student with their own Emotions colour wheel.

2. Emotions are felt in Colour.

Display the bodily topography image on how emotions are felt in our body much like the mind monsters they are associated with colour.

3. Hand out the colour your emotions ginger bread people and discuss and decide as a class what colours the class feels with the emotions. e.g. anger is red or orange, suprise is purple or pink. Class must decided together the colour of the emotions

4. Students will then colour their gingerbread people on where they feel the emotion with the colour they decided. Not all students will feel the emotions in the same place. Example, happy can be butterlies in the stomach area so that will be coloured in. Emphasis there is no right answer but only your answer, we all feel the emotions but they are felt in different places.

5. Students will cut out each of their gingerbread people and hang them under the appropriate heading on the larger kraft paper. This allows the students to start to recognize that they feel the same emotion but feel them in different places. NO NAMES on people. Hang this in the class room or appropriate place to be used in the future or debrief at the end of class or next session.

6. Debrief with students that emotions are powerful and drive us and our reactions, even in adults. But we are different in how we feel them and how we react to them. It is important to build the vocabulary to express the core emotions.

Example Work Below:

Teacher Resources

• Print Mind Monsters on 11 X 17 " paper and if in black and white please colour in. Print One class set

• Emotions Colour Wheel: inner part are the core emotions with other words and connections of core emotions as you more out. This is building vocabulary and identify what they are truly feeling. Print one for each student

• Bodily Topography image of how we feel our emotions. Print a coloured copy one for the board.

• Colour the emotion. Print one for each student.

Examples of Class Work

EXTENSIONS:

On the Emotions colour wheel, get students to design and draw their own mind monsters. Wheel can be taking home and discussed with parents where they feel these emotions. E.g. upset stomachs could mean anger, or my legs are tired or sore could be sadness.

Observers in class take note where students are feeling these emotions. It would be helpful to take photos of each students with their gingerbread people coloured in before cutting out.