Duration: 10 minutes
SPIRIT Skills:
- Emotional awareness, regulation and communication
- Empathy
Brief Description:
Students are divided into small groups, and each group is given a card with a randomly assigned emotion. This step sets the structure for collaborative work throughout the activity.
The teacher divides the class into small groups (3–5 students each), ensuring a mix of personalities. Each group receives a card showing an emotion from the warm-up circle.
How does this develop particular SPIRIT skills
- Students will collaborate on understanding one emotional concept deeply
- They will begin to recognize that emotions can be experienced in different ways
- They start sharing roles and responsibilities in a respectful and inclusive way.
What do we want to achieve regarding SPIRIT skill development (student understanding and/or behaviour)?
As a result of this activity
- Students will collaborate on understanding one emotional concept deeply
- They will begin to recognize that emotions can be experienced in different ways
- They start sharing roles and responsibilities in a respectful and inclusive way.
Academic/Curriculum Objective connection
- SEL: Identifying and exploring core emotions
- Citizenship: Practicing inclusive group work
- Language/Art: Preparing for expressive tasks based on shared content.
Materials and tools needed for implementation
- Emotion cards (with name, icon, and possibly colour cues)
- Pre-made list or chart for assigning students to groups.
Preparation notes
- Print and laminate emotion cards
- Consider student dynamics when forming groups
- Optionally let students draw cards for added engagement.
Guided Questions
- Have you ever felt this emotion?
- What do you already know about it?
- How might this emotion look different for different people?
Stage Debriefing Questions (Optional)
- How did your group start talking about the emotion?
- Did you all have similar experiences, or were they different?
Tips and Tricks for dealing with stage challenges
- If students struggle to engage, offer optional sentence starters
- Ensure all students have a voice—consider assigning rotating mini-roles if helpful
- Choose simple, relatable emotions for younger groups.