1. Supporting Emotional Literacy in young Children
Targeted Social Emotional Supports
Beth Vorhaus
Melissa Binkley
Adapted by Team Tennessee from Iowa Train-Coach-Train, Spring 2011 & CSEFEL Pyramid Model Training

2. The Pyramid Model ← Pyramid Model INTERVENTION → PREVENTION →
PROMOTION
PREVENTION →
INTERVENTION → ←
Pyramid Model

3. In previous sessions, we’ve talked about the importance of building positive relationships and designing supportive environments (including rules, schedules, materials, and activities) to support children’s social emotional development and prevent challenging behavior.
In the next 2 sessions, we will continue to build on these ideas by discussing the use of effective strategies, ideas, and resources to help “teach” children social emotional skills (friendship skills, emotional literacy, development of empathy, impulse control, and problem solving).

4. “If a child doesn’t know how to read, we teach.
If a child doesn’t know how to swim, we teach.
If a child doesn’t know how to multiply, we teach.
If a child doesn’t know how to drive, we teach.
If a child doesn’t know how to behave, we…….....
…….teach? ……punish?
Why can’t we finish the last sentence as automatically as we do the others?”
Tom Herner (NASDE President ) Counterpoint 1998, p.2)
Make the point that children often use challenging behavior when they don’t have more appropriate behaviors or skills to accomplish the same goal or to communicate the same message. This means that our focus has to be on “teaching children new skills” rather then “trying to get them to stop using challenging behaviors.” We need to teach children what to do rather than what not to do

5. What is Emotional Literacy?
Emotional literacy is the ability to identify, understand, and express emotions in a healthy way.
Read definition of emotional literacy.
Just like “normal” literacy is the ability to identify and understand written words as well as to express oneself in written form, emotional literacy is identifying and understanding emotions as well as expressing emotions in appropriate, healthy ways.

6. Why is Emotional Literacy Important?
Children with emotional literacy skills…
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
Research has shown that children who have a strong foundation in emotional literacy are better prepared for academic and life success.
Children who don’t learn to use emotional language have a hard time labeling and understanding their own feelings as well as accurately identifying how others feel.

7. Activity: Emotion Words
What emotion or feeling words are important to teach young children?
Have participants list feeling words that they would want to teach young children.
Record their “feeling words” on chart paper.
Ask them to count the number of positive and negative feeling words.
Stress the importance of teaching both positive and negative words.
Now have them look at the range of words the suggested.
Explain the importance of teaching young children feeling words that go beyond the basics (happy, sad, mad).
An increased vocabulary allows children to make finer discriminations between feelings and to better communicate with others about their feelings.
These skills help children to become better interpersonal communicators.

8. How Can I Intentionally Teach Emotional Literacy?
Indirect Teaching
Discussion
Checking In
Direct Teaching
Songs & Games
Feelings Dice/Wheel
Creative Play Activities
Children’s Literature
Book Nooks
There are several different ways that adults can teach emotional literacy and increase children’s feelings vocabularies.
Each of these will be discussion on the following slides.

9. 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 portfolios, and other assessments!”
This approach does require a time commitment – but it reduces time spent in dealing with challenging behaviors later on
Here are some suggestions from other teachers on how to address this issue
Focus on where your biggest problem is first
Tie it in with literacy/literature
Need behaviors ‘controlled’ before you can teach other things
Prioritize immediate concern/most needed skills
Doesn’t have to be taught separately; incorporate it into daily routines and use staff
Evaluate your play centers and daily routines because many things you are doing without realizing it
Use your resources to come into the classrooms
Integrate and embed
You will be spending more time dealing with behaviors than it would take to be proactive
This is the foundation of everything else!!

10. 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!”
An example of indirect teaching would be when a teacher provides emotion labels – “you’re happy” or “you’re frustrated” – as children experience various affective states.
Use the example on the slide and note how the teacher describes what the two children are doing that helped her figure out how they were feeling.

11. Video: Indirect Teaching
This clip shows an infant engaging in an activity that is difficult (learning to stand).
Her caregivers verbally acknowledge the difficulty of the task and encourage her to keep with it.
When the task is complete, the caregivers label the emotions the infant may be feeling and reference her facial expressions.

12. Discussion “How Would You Feel If…” “One time I…”
Discuss typical situations that happen when children are together.
Jeremy wanted to play ball with Katie and Wu-Ying today, but they wouldn’t let him. How do you think that made him feel? How do you think you would feel if that happened to you? What could Jeremy try next time?
“One time I…”
Ask children to tell about a time the experienced a particular emotion.
What made them feel this way?
Did anything happen to make them change how they felt?
Play “How Would You Feel If?”
Have children role play typical situations that happen when they are together and then talk about “how would you feel if this happened to you?”
Use the example on the slide.
“One time I…”
Have children share stories about a time when they experienced a particular emotion.
Ask follow up questions to expand on the stories and the emotional experience.

13. Checking In
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.
Children can “check in” each morning by putting their name by a feeling face picture that best depicts their affective state.
Children can be encouraged to change their feeling faces throughout the day as their feelings change.
Adults should also participate by putting their name by a feeling face and changing it throughout the day. They can talk about how their feelings change as they change their feeling face to help children understand that feelings can change many times during the day.

14. “Checking In” with Direct Instruction
This center (West Des Moines, IA) used the “Checking In” activity in conjunction with direct teaching about emotions.
The teacher taught about 2 emotions each week to build up the children’s emotional vocabulary
She added and changed the faces on the check in sheet to reflect what the children were learning.

15. Direct Teaching
Planned activities or opportunities for children to increase their emotional vocabulary.
Direct teaching involves planning specific activities/opportunities for children to increase their emotional vocabulary as well as to start to discriminate what different facial expressions/emotions might look like.
It could be showing a child pictures and labeling the emotions.
Example: “See this child? She looks sad. I can tell she looks sad because she is covering her eyes and is frowning.”

16. Activity: Direct Teaching Practice
How could you use these pictures to teach emotional literacy?
Ask participants how they might use these pictures to teach emotional vocabulary.
Pictures will dissolve in with clicks.

17. How Do I Feel?
These faces represent a range of emotions. These can be found on the CSEFEL website in both English and Spanish.
Teachers can use these faces in direct instruction with young children.
There are many different ways to use these pictures to teach emotions.
Some of these ways will be discussed later.

18. Feelings Center
This slide shows how a teacher hung a mirror with a feeling poster beside the mirror so children could make different “feeling faces.”
They also drew their own “feeling faces,” which where displayed above the mirror.
The teacher would often join children at the mirror and start conversations about the feeling faces they were making in the mirror and what happened to make them feel this way.

19. Feelings Bulletin Board
Another example of how a teacher used one of the feeling words (proud) for children to have an opportunity to learn what “proud” means.
They cut pictures out of magazines that showed people feeling proud.
They also took pictures of children in the classroom who were feeling proud!
They picked a different emotion each week and used the same process. This would be a great idea for home care settings.

20. Songs Piggy-Back Songs
Use existing song and create new “feelings” lyrics
Example: “If you’re happy and you know it”
If you’re sad & you know it, cry a tear: “Boo-hoo”
If you’re mad & you know it, use your words: “I’m mad”
If you’re scared & you know it ask for help: “Help me”
If you’re happy & you know it,
hug a friend
If you’re tired and you know it,
give a yawn
Songs are a creative way to teach emotional literacy.
You can create piggy back songs (using an existing song and changing the words) to center around emotions
Example – “If you’re happy and you know it”
There are also many commercial CDs that have fun songs about emotions.
An example would be Jim Gill’s “I’m so Mad I Could Growl” song.

21. Feeling Faces Flashcards
Games
Charades
Bingo
Purchased Games
Emotions Memory Game
Games are fun ways to teach about emotions.
You can make “flashcard” games with emotion faces.
Have children race to see who can identify the emotion first.
You can combine games and discussion/direct instruction about emotions.
Feeling Faces Flashcards

22. Make a _____ face. Emotion Charades
These next 2 games use feeling faces from the CSEFEL web site.
Emotion Charades has one child act out the emotions while others guess the emotion.

23. Emotion Bingo
The Bingo game would be appropriate for a wide range of children. If each feeling face is done in a different color, children who might not be able to “read” the words could match the colors. Children might also be able to match the faces by the expressions.
Children who are starting to read can match the words as well as the faces. Be sure to choose words that you are teaching and talking about in class.

24. Feeling Dice/Feeling Wheel
Feeling Dice and Feeling Wheel
Make a Feeling Wheel with a spinner that children can spin and then label the feeling face that the spinner lands on and talk about a time they felt that way.
Share with participants that the Feeling Wheel can be downloaded from the CSEFEL web site.
Make Feeling Dice by covering milk cartons with paper and drawing different feeling faces on each side.
Children can toss dice; label the feeling face and describe a time they felt that way.

25. Video: Using Feeling Dice
Introduce clip: teachers use the feeling dice in an art activity – the children roll the die to select and emotion for their art project.
Ask:
What do you like about this activity?
What would you change?
How could you use this in your classroom?

26. Examples: Creative Play Activities
Taming a Scary Puppet
Life-Size
Rice Cake Faces
A Sign of Growing
Creative play activities are activities in which the child creates something – crafts, art, food, etc.
From Mister Rogers Parenting Resource Book, Fred Rogers (2005)

27. Taming a Scary Puppet
Using a paper bag and construction paper, allow child to make a puppet.
Talk about what would make the puppet look scary. Talk about things that are scary.
When the puppet is finished, talk with the puppet and find ways to “tame” it so it isn’t so scary – maybe the puppet is scary because it is mad or sad about something.
Create a story about the puppet and help it to become less scary.
This activity helps children address their fears and talk about their feelings; it also aids creativity and pretending.

28. Life-Size
Tape sheets of newspaper together (large enough for a child to lie on). Draw the outline of the child and cut it out.
The child can fill the outline with pictures of feeling faces and scenes of what makes them feel this way
For example, happy faces with a picture of the child eating ice cream
This activity helps increase self-control (through body awareness) and identification of feelings.

29. Rice Cake Faces
Spread a rice cake with peanut butter, cream cheese, or jelly (the foundation for the face)
Discuss what kind of feeling face the child will make. Use raisins, apple slices, banana slices, etc. decorate the faces to reflect the feelings.
Discuss what makes the child feel happy, sad, surprised, scared, angry, etc.
This activity helps children name and talk about their feelings; it also enhances imagination and fine motor skills.

30. A Sign of Growing
Each month, put a new 11”x17” sheet of paper at child height on the wall.
Mark important social emotional accomplishments on each chart with the date
Example: shared with a friend, took turns, said “I’m mad” instead of hitting, solved a problem without a teacher
This works like a height growth chart, except it marks social-emotional growth.
It helps children have a sense of pride in their accomplishments.

31. Video: Happy, Sad, Mad, Scared
Explain to participants that they will observe several different activities to enhance emotional literacy skills in the following video clips.
This clip shows a happy, sad, mad, and scared activity.
Ask:
What do you like about this activity?
What would you change?
How could you use this in your classroom?

32. Children’s Literature
Explain that books are a great and engaging way to teach about emotions.
Many books are written explicitly about feelings and contain numerous feeling words.
Most of us already have books in our settings – so this is an easy and fun way to be more “intentional” about supporting children’s social emotional development.

33. Video: Emotions Book
This clip shows an example of using a book to discuss emotions.
Ask:
What do you like about this activity?
What would you change?
How could you use this in your classroom?

34. Hands Are Not for Hitting
Book Nooks
Glad Monster
Sad Monster
On Monday When
it Rained
Hands Are Not for Hitting
Read On Monday When It Rained
Now introduce the Book Nook example for CSEFEL Handout On Monday When it Rained.
Explain that Book Nooks give examples of activities to expand on social emotional concepts while reading the book during story time.
A different concept from the book, with related center activities, is focused on each day of the week.
Point out that reading the same book for several days is a great way to support children’s social emotional development.
Children learn the story, they can re-tell the story, and it becomes their story! They feel successful, confident and competent!
Give participants a few minutes to look at the Book Nook.
Handout 2

35. Book Nook Activity
“I feel excited when I get to go to my friend Coby’s house to play.”
“I feet upset when my mommy didn’t get me anything.”
This slide shows an example of a Book Nook activity.
The suggested activity is to take pictures of children in the classroom or home care setting that shows the children making feeling faces and then explaining a time when they felt that way).
Tell participants that they can find more Book Nooks on the CSEFEL web site.
Explain that the example that we just gave (On Monday When it Rained) is a book that focuses on emotions. But, it is also important to use other types of book that don’t specifically focus on “emotions” to build on social emotional concepts.
One example would be Corduroy (this is a good example because most people are familiar with this book).
The Book Nooks on the CSEFEL site include books that are not necessarily focused on social emotional concepts.

36. Discussion: Missing Resources?
“I don’t have any social emotional books, games or songs. I need all of my planning time to take care of regular classroom activities – I can’t spend it making things for these extra activities.”
Ask participants to brainstorm ways they might gain access to resources which can help them enhance emotional literacy in their classrooms.
Lack of Materials
Go to the website
Order them from AEA
Get volunteers to make things, parents to donate materials
Get the kids involved in making materials
Network with other teacher to share materials
Multi-task
Plan in advance
Have a Make & Take get together (staff meetings….)
Divide responsibilities among staff
Use what you already have – look at it – you may have things you can adapt
Lack of Social Emotional Books
Check the library
Make books yourself
Personal storytelling – flannel board, puppets
Trade among centers/classrooms
Bookstores – inexpensive – Scholastic
Families share
AEA media center
Use budget money to purchase
Use camera to make own personalized social stories
Apply for grant money
Book drive through parents
Book orders (save bonus points)
Book fair
Garage sales

37. Skill Building: Empathy Identifying Feelings in Self & Others
Learning words for different feelings
Empathy training
Learning to recognize how someone else is feeling
Facial cues
Body language
Tone of voice
Situational cues
Learning how to control anger, relax,
and calm down
Discuss that it is impossible for a child to be able to coordinate their own feelings with those of others unless they are aware of others’ feelings and unless they care about the effect of their behavior on others (Hyson, 2004).
Discusses ways in which children learn to identify feelings in themselves and others.
Explain to participants that we are going to continue to build on the ideas and strategies that we just talked about for building children’s emotional literacy skills.

38. Teaching Empathy
Empathy is the identification with and understanding of another’s feelings and situation.
Model empathy
“Alike” & “different” activities
Draw children’s attention to how others are feeling
Role plays and role reversals
Reinforce empathy behaviors .
Read definition of empathy.
Note that developing a sense of empathy in children is dependent on the child having a good emotional vocabulary
If the child cannot identify his own emotions, he cannot identify the emotions in others
Empathy is also a foundation for problem solving
For children to engage in problem solving, they must be able to see the situation from the view point of the other children or adults involved

39. The Big Picture: Supporting Emotional Literacy in Your Classroom
We often make assumptions about children’s Social Emotional Learning. These skills need to be taught intentionally! Emotional Literacy paves the way for friendships skills, anger management, and problem solving.
Read books about feelings, Make them available in the story center
Post photos of people in which various emotions are displayed
Label your own feelings
Notice and label children’s feelings
Plan activities to teach and reinforce emotional literacy
Reinforce children for using feeling words
Make daily efforts
Summarize reading characteristics of classrooms that foster emotional literacy.
Refer participants to CSEFEL Handout 2.6 Enhancing Emotional Vocabulary in Young Children by Joseph & Strain
Transition to the next section by telling participants that helping to support the development of emotional literacy skills is a “prerequisite” skill for emotional regulation, successful interactions, and problem solving.
We will start talking about some of these tonight and finish in our next session.

41. Questions?