Feelings... they are for everyone!

One of the first steps to developing complex social skills is to be able to recognize, identify, and understand feelings.

*The first thing we need to know about feelings or "emotions" is that everyone has them!  There are so many feelings that I cannot even name them all, and I have been doing this work for a VERY long time!

*The second thing you should know is that in order to control BIG or scary feelings (like anger, fear, frustration and many others) we need to be able to name them.

I will be posting a lot more about challenging feelings later, but for now... let's practice!

Here is one of the feelings charts that we have used in our Friendship Clubs.  This is only a small number of feelings... can you find how you are feeling today?

Challenge:  

Make your own feelings chart to hang at home.  Draw faces with crayons, colored pencils, or markers, cut pictures out of a magazine, or ask your family to help you find pictures on the internet to print.

Use your feelings chart every day to show how you are feeling.

It is okay, and even EXPECTED that your feelings will change many times every day!

If you want to share, and your grown-up says it is okay, you can send me a photo of your feelings chart.  Send it to ldrinon@dcrsd.org

I am glad you are here!

Parents and students are welcomed to reach out anytime: ldrinon@dcrsd.org

 I am happy to chat with parents and or students via other technologies as well.... let's be flexible on this one!   

In the meantime, please feel free to check out some of the resources that I have posted.