Feelings Circle

Talking about feelings helps people understand how we’re feeling and why we’re feeling that way. It can help others be kind or patient with us on a hard day or celebrate with us when we’re excited or proud about something. Today, we’re going to do a Feelings Circle and share how we’re feeling with the group.

1. Once students are comfortable talking about feelings, choose a time to do this 15-minute routine daily (e.g., right after the students eat, during Morning Meeting, when they come back from lunch, etc.).
2. Gather students to sit or stand in a circle and greet them as they join. You might begin the circle with a song the class likes to sing together.
3. Take a few minutes to discuss the following:

• What are feelings? What do you know about them?
• How do you know how you’re feeling? What do feelings feel like in your body?
• What emotion are you feeling right now? Why?

4. Go around the circle and give each student the opportunity to share. Tell students they can pass if they don’t want to take a turn. Students can also choose to share their feelings with you separately, if they would prefer not to share with the whole group.

• What was it like to share your feelings with others? Are there times when you don’t want to share your feelings?
• How did you know what you were feeling? What skills did you use to recognize your emotions?
• What times at school or home do you need to share how you’re feeling?
• How would you change this game for the next time we play?

For primary school students:

• Encourage students to express their feelings in creative ways. Instead of expressing feelings verbally, students can use art or building materials or technology. Encourage students to create something that represents how they are feeling. Then, they can share their creation and how they are feeling with a partner, in a small group, or with the class.
• Ask students to use basic emotion words (e.g., happy, sad, scared, mad) or metaphoric expressions (e.g., weather metaphor: sunny, cloudy, partly cloudy, etc.) or rate their mood on their fingers (5 fingers = excellent mood; 1 finger = terrible mood).

For students in grades 5-6:

• Encourage the students to use feelings words in classroom situations (e.g., achievements, disagreements, challenges, successes, etc.).
• Invite students to observe and explore how emotions affect their own behavior and class/team interactions.