Cover lesson · Health and Well-being · Year 1 · Beginner

Saying how I feel with feelings faces

LNF: Literacy → Speaking → Purpose

Cover teacher: you need no subject knowledge

What this practises: speaking: sharing feelings, saying what you like and don’t like and why, using feelings words like happy and sad, and telling a partner about something that happened. Talking about feelings is also good for well-being.

Print: the activity sheet (page 2 of this file), one per pupil, and the stimulus sheet “Feelings faces cards”, one for you to hold up (and one per pair if you can). Pupils need a pencil and coloured pencils. No computers are needed. Nobody has to share a feeling they do not want to. If a pupil tells you something worrying, pass it on to the class teacher or the school’s safeguarding lead in the usual way.

Run: 5 min Step 1, Sut wyt ti? circle · 10 min Step 2, feelings faces · 8 min Step 3, Task 1 · 15 min Step 4, Task 2 and partner talk · 10 min Step 5, Task 3 · 8 min Step 6, Task 4 · 4 min Step 7, today I feel. Total 60 minutes.

Collect: the activity sheets and the listening record below. Speaking is the main skill, so fill in the record for at least 6 pupils while you listen in Steps 4 and 5. The drawings and sentences show what each pupil talked about. There are no wrong answers on this sheet: check that each pupil has traced the words, finished the sentence and coloured a thumb for each picture.

Teacher script

Read the words after Say aloud.

  1. 5 min Sut wyt ti? circle. Sit in a circle if you can. Say: “Sut wyt ti? means ‘How are you?’ in Welsh. You can answer hapus (happy), trist (sad), wedi blino (tired) or iawn (OK).” Go round the circle asking each pupil. Pupils can pass.
  2. 10 min Feelings faces. Hold up each face card. Say: “This face is happy. Show me a happy face.” Do the same for sad, cross, worried and excited. Ask: “What might make someone feel worried? What might make someone feel excited?” Say: “All feelings are OK. Everybody feels sad or cross sometimes.”
  3. 8 min Task 1: feelings faces. Hand out the sheet. Say: “Trace the word under each face. Then colour the box under the face that shows how you feel today.”
  4. 15 min Task 2 and partner talk. Say: “Draw something that makes you feel happy. Then tell your partner: I feel happy when… Tell them what happened, who was there and why you liked it.” Listen to pairs and fill in the listening record. Ask to help a quiet pupil: “Who were you with? What did you do next?” Pupils then write or copy the end of the sentence.
  5. 10 min Task 3: I like, I don’t like. Say: “For each picture, colour the thumb up or the thumb down. Then tell your partner why. Say: I like swimming because… or I don’t like carrots because…” Keep filling in the listening record.
  6. 8 min Task 4: what helps? Say: “When we feel sad, cross or worried, some things can help us feel calmer. Let’s try a slow, deep breath together: in through your nose, out through your mouth.” Do it 3 times. Read each picture aloud and pupils circle the one that helps them most.
  7. 4 min Today I feel. Say: “Finish this sentence: Today I feel… because…” Take a few answers.

Listening record

Put a tick when you hear the pupil do it. Add a few words they said in the notes.

PupilSays how they feelSays what they like or don’t like, and whyUses feelings wordsNotes: what they said

Activity sheet · Health and Well-being · Year 1

Saying how I feel with feelings faces

Name: Class: Date:

1. Feelings faces

Trace the word under each face. Colour the box under the face that shows how you feel today.

happy
sad
cross
worried
excited

2. I feel happy when…

Draw something that makes you feel happy. Tell your partner about it.

I feel happy when

3. I like, I don’t like

Colour the thumb up if you like it. Colour the thumb down if you don’t. Tell your partner why.

football
reading a book
carrots
swimming
a bath
riding a bike

4. What helps?

When I feel sad, cross or worried, these can help. Circle the one that helps you most.

take a slow, deep breath
have a hug
talk to a grown-up
a quiet time with a book