Duration: 10-15 minutes
SPIRIT Skills:
- Emotional awareness, regulation and communication
- Empathy
Brief Description:
Children gather in a circle to reflect on the activity. They are invited to share what they discovered about their own emotions and how listening to others helped them better understand their classmates.
- Students sit in a circle, possibly with the emotion towers around them
- Each child is invited to share a thought, feeling, or learning from the experience
- A soft object (e.g., talking stick) can be used to take turns.
How does this develop particular SPIRIT skills
- Encourages self-awareness by reflecting on emotional experiences
- Develops empathy through sharing and listening to others
- Promotes positive group identity and emotional expression.
What do we want to achieve regarding SPIRIT skill development (student understanding and/or behaviour)?
As a result of this activity
- Students learn to express what they feel and reflect on the meaning of the experience
- They recognize the diversity of emotional responses and how they are expressed
- They become more comfortable talking about emotions in a group setting.
Academic/Curriculum Objective connection
- Language Arts: Speaking and listening
- Ethics/Education for citizenship: Respect and appreciation of others’ perspectives.
Materials and tools needed for implementation
- Emotion Towers (visual anchor)
- Talking object (optional)
- Visual emotion chart (optional).
Preparation notes
- Create a calm, respectful atmosphere
- Encourage voluntary sharing, without pressure
- Have prompts ready in case students need help to start.
Guided Questions
- What did you learn about your emotion during this activity?
- How did it feel to build something together as a group?
- What surprised you about the other towers or emotions?
- How did your feelings change during the activity?
Stage Debriefing Questions (Optional)
- What will you remember most from this experience?
- Is there something new you discovered about a classmate today?
Tips and Tricks for dealing with stage challenges
- Accept all types of reflections – short, long, serious, funny
- Acknowledge each contribution with a nod or smile
- If a child doesn’t want to speak, allow them to draw or gesture their answer