Activity: Model Identifying Feelings of Others

to observe others during an activity

	1	story about feelings	per whole group
(Optional)	1	scissors	for prep
(Optional)	1	glue stick or tape	for prep
(Optional)	1	story (My Friend is Sad by: Mo Willems)	per whole group
(Optional)	2	popsicle sticks	per learner

Gather materials.
Print, cut out, and glue both the happy and sad elephant faces onto two different popsicle sticks for each learner (optional).

Discuss as a group what makes us happy. Then discuss what makes us sad (situations, food, people, etc.).
The educator models the facial expressions and body language (shoulders, back, arms, eyes, and chin position) of someone who is happy and then discusses with the learners what features to look for to identify a happy person.
The educator then models the facial expressions and body language of someone who is sad and then discusses with the learners what features to look for to identify a sad person.
Explain to the learners that they will listen to the same story as yesterday. This time they hear the story, they must identify if the main character looks happy or sad.
Page by page, the educator rereads the story from yesterday. As each page is turned, the learners decide how the main character feels by either holding up a happy or sad elephant or by expressing the feeling on their own face.
Conclude by saying that it is okay to have many different feelings. Sometimes we are sad and sometimes we are happy. We can also be angry, tired, excited, and even silly. It is important to look at other people's face and body language to decide how they are feeling.