Many of my kiddos are working on social language skills. For lots of these students, expressing their feelings appropriately is a challenge. Some of these students have been diagnosed with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) or EBD (Emotional-Behavior Disorder). Others just need a little extra help in the “feelings” department. Regardless, everyone needs to learn to use words to express how they are feeling instead of lashing out with inappropriate behaviors. To help these students, I created a feelings wall in my classroom. The details for how to make a feelings wall are below.
How to Make a Feelings Wall:
I first made a quick poster for the center of the wall. Then, we cut out about 50 paper hearts from the die cut machine. We laminated the poster, but chose not to laminate the hearts so we could write on them as needed.
Then, we started by adding the 6 universal feelings: happy, sad, mad, scared, disgusted, and surprised. Next, we branched out with synonyms for each of these feelings. In addition, we also added several other feelings categories. The wall has grown from 6 feelings to over 50! Whenever a new feelings word comes up, the students can take turns adding it to the wall.
The kids love looking up at the wall and using a different word other than the basic “happy” or “sad.” They are thrilled when they come up with a new word to add. My students are learning new vocabulary words and how to express themselves at the same time. When working on writing, we often refer to the feelings wall to find synonyms for feelings instead of the usual “happy” or “sad.” We talk about the different feelings, what they mean, what they look like, and why someone may feel that way. We also discuss appropriate behaviors to exhibit when you are experiencing that feeling.
Do you use a feelings wall? How do you teach feeling words?
