Lessons · Teaching · mental, emotional and social health in a primary classroom
Mental, emotional and social health in a primary room
This covers naming feelings, managing strong ones, friendship and conflict, resilience, and knowing when and how to ask an adult for help. The examination asks about age-appropriate teaching and about the teacher's role in noticing and referring.
Hone is a place to practise a career, one idea a day. This is one of its lessons, written out in full and free to read without an account.
In beta. This lesson was written for Hone and has not yet been checked by a state certification officer. Practice material, not professional advice. What that means.
What it is for
This is the part of health education children use every single day, and it is the part most likely to be delivered as a poster. A child who can name what they are feeling has a better chance of managing it, and naming is a teachable skill rather than a personality.
How to think about it
Teach vocabulary first, because a feeling that cannot be named cannot be discussed: frustrated is not the same as angry and a child who has both words has a choice. Teach one strategy at a time and rehearse it when calm. Make asking for help a normal action with a named person attached rather than a last resort.
Worked example
Name it to tame it: children with a wider feelings vocabulary manage feelings betterFrustrated, disappointed, nervous, embarrassed. Four words is a curriculum.
Rehearse a strategy when calm, because nobody learns one mid-stormThe same principle as a fire drill, and for the same reason.
Conflict resolution is a sequence a child can be taught and can run themselvesSay what happened, say how it felt, say what you want to happen. Three steps.
Noticing and referring is the teacher's role, and it has a named person in every schoolYou are not the counsellor. You are the adult who noticed and knew where to take it.
Your turn
Name the first thing to teach so a feeling can be managed.
A feeling has to be before it can be discussed
Solve one, graded on the server
The trap
Waiting for a crisis to teach the skill. A strategy introduced while a child is overwhelmed is not learned, it is imposed. Every one of these is taught and practised on an ordinary Tuesday.