Creating an Emotionally Healthy Classroom

Practical and Creative Literacy and Art Resources for Key Stage 2

Daphne Gutteridge, Vivien Smith

• Publisher: David Fulton Publishers
• Year: 2009
• Print ISBN: 9780415497299
• eBook ISBN: 9781135210717
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

This practical resource book for Key Stage 2 explores a range of emotions using both original poetry and well-known artworks to stimulate discussion in the classroom.

Based on the extensive teaching experience of Daphne Gutteridge and Vivien Smith as well as current educational initiatives such as ECM and SEAL, this book is aimed at practitioners who are committed to creating an emotionally healthy classroom environment where children feel valued and confident about managing and responding to feelings. Providing practical and creative resources throughout, this book:

• Covers both negative and positive emotions, including confidence, hope, resilience, excitement, disappointment, sadness, frustration, confusion and many more
• Links to SEAL initiatives and the PHSE curriculum
• Has activities for all abilities
• Outlines clear objectives and resource lists for all activities

Essential reading for all teachers who wish to create an emotionally literate environment, this book provides a practical and creative resource to enable teachers to develop emotional literacy in a cross curricula context in their classrooms.

Positive emotions

Learning objectives

The following learning objectives relate to the renewed Primary Literacy Framework. Objectives from the framework that are specific to each session appear in the text box at the top of each unit, but all the sessions in this book will enable practitioners to address the following learning outcomes:

Speaking

To be able to:

1a) Offer reasons and evidence for their views considering alternative opinions.

1b) Respond to the contributions of others in the light of differing viewpoints.

1c) Use the technique of dialogic talk to explore ideas, topics or issues.

Listening and responding

To be able to:

2b) Follow up others’ points and show they agree or disagree in whole class discussion.

Group discussion and interaction

To be able to:

3c) Use the language of possibility to investigate and reflect on feelings, behaviour or relationships.

All the sessions will also enable practitioners to address the following learning outcomes from the Programme of Study for Art and Design. Objectives from the framework that are specific to individual sessions appear in the text box at the top of each unit.

Investigating and making

To be able to:

2c) Use a variety of methods and approaches to communicate observational ideas and feelings and design and make images and artefacts.

Knowledge and understanding

To know about:

4a) Visual and tactile elements including colour, pattern and texture, line and tone shape, form and space.

4b) Materials and processes used in making art and design.

4c) Differences and similarities in the work of artists, craftspeople and designers in different times and cultures (for example sculptors, photographers, architects and textile designers).

1
Brave

Curriculum Links: PSHE 1b 1c SEAL: Good to be Me

Literacy: 1a 1b 1c 2b 3c

Learning objectives

• to develop empathy and build self-esteem;

• to be able to create a poem based on experience and using a given format.

Today I’m gonna be brave.
I’m gonna jump in the deep end of the pool
And not care how long it takes to come up.

Today I’m gonna be brave.
When Marvinder Basanti calls me names,
I’m gonna tell him to get lost!

Today I’m gonna be brave.
I’m gonna answer every question
Even though they might not be right.

Today I’m gonna be brave.
I’m gonna tell Sharon Peters
I think she’s really cool.

Today I’m gonna be brave.
I’m gonna admit to my teacher
That I don’t understand decimals.

Today I’m gonna be brave.
My lips aren’t going to quiver
When I don’t get in the footy team.

Today I’m gonna be brave.
And sit next to Billy Taylor
On the way home.

Today I’m gonna be brave.
Well…
I think I am!

Vivien Smith

• Ask the pupils if they can empathise with any of the scenarios in the poem. Discuss with their partner. Share their experiences with the class if appropriate.

• Ask them what the last line of the poem means. How was the poet feeling at this point?

• Ask the pupils if they think it is always easy to feel brave. Why/why not?

• Ask if anyone would like to share a time when they were particularly brave.

Further follow-up activities: poetry writing

Ask the pupils to think of their own scenarios and create their own poem using the same format as the one they have just read. They can end it any way they choose.

Art: 2c 4a 4b 4c

Learning objectives

• to compare and contrast work by a variety of artists on the same theme;

• to develop design and collage skills through the construction of figures.

Christ on the Cross by Georges Henri Rouault

This painting is a large image of Christ on the Cross with 3 figures standing surrounding the Cross. It is a stylized image, with glowing colours and heavy black lines which are reminiscent of a stained glass window.

Georges Henri Rouault 1871–1958 was a French expressionist painter. He was born in Paris to a poor family and was apprenticed to a glass blower at the age of fourteen. His early experience there has been suggested as the likely source of his later paintings. The heavy black lines and glowing colours in his work are reminiscent of stained glass.

Web image: Use Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org). Type ‘Rouault’ into the search box. On the Rouault page scroll down to online resources and click on ‘Works by Georges Rouault’. The image appears as Christ en Croix.

• What is this image depicting? How is it linked to the theme of bravery?

• How do you think this image was produced? Where might you expect to see an image like this?

• Why do you ...

Table of contents

• Contents
• Figures
• Acknowledgements
• Preface
• Introduction
• Positive emotions
• Negative emotions
• List of artists and artworks
• Glossary of terms
• Index