HOW ARE YOU FEELING?

Sarah took enormous care to check in with her class of third/ forth graders today and find out how they were feeling. She used four icons to poll the class. Something like this:

For those feeling sad, Sarah took time to open a discussion about what we might do to help others when they feel sad-- virtual hugs, listening, sharing a story about when you have felt sad, saying that you hear them.

A few years ago, my daughters receives a Davis Grant for Peace and built a start up called Sounds of Social Change. They traveled to Columbia to teach music to under privileged kids in Calle, Columbia. As part of the grant they worked with me to write and publish a music book for the children . . . in Spanish. They photographed a neighbor, asking her to respond with facial expression to about 50 feeling words. These were uses as a teaching tool to build a connection between feeling and sound as well as develop emotional vocabulary for kids living in a gang neighborhood.

I am interested in the expansion of feeling. Sarah said today when speaking about gender: "Let's get out of the idea of one or another."

What if we expanded this to include subtle yet to be named feeling states for third and forth graders? Learning Object Anyone?