Students of all ages can benefit from tools and resources that help them identify and cope with their various emotions. Early learning teachers will also look for insights and strategies to help them bring healthy methods for coping with feelings and emotions. One such emerging tool is the feeling chart. Feeling charts, especially for early learning students, can be great assets in the classroom. Today, we'll share some of the many benefits of feeling charts so you can decide if they're an ideal enhancement for your young learners this year.
1. Improved communication
When children struggle to understand their feelings, they will struggle to communicate what they are experiencing effectively. A feeling chart gives them an easier method of communication by helping them identify what they are feeling. Improved communication allows teachers and school staff to better connect with students.
As BetterHelp describes, feeling charts are age-appropriate ways for young learners to express themselves healthily. Through improved communication, school staff can provide better support to students. Students benefit from improved communication by feeling heard and supported. Improved communication results in better and deeper relationships between students and teachers. It can also help students build better relationships with each other. This can help build a more positive culture throughout the school.
2. Emotional literacy
Feeling charts help students develop emotional literacy. Students learn the names for their feelings, giving them a label that can help early learners to classify their feelings. As children learn to recognize and cope with their emotions, they develop new neurological connections in their brains. This helps them achieve more sophisticated thought processes. These newly established connections can translate to greater learning power. Students depend less on reactive thought processes and more on logic or reasoning.
3. Adaptability
Children who develop the ability to identify and cope with their emotions can better adapt to changes in their routines and environment. This is especially applicable for younger students who have not experienced many changes in their lives. A feelings chart empowers children to take control and ownership of their feelings. This gives them a sense of power in a world where they may not have any say in what happens.
Autonomy builds self-confidence and esteem as children learn how to identify and process their feelings. When the student then experiences major changes, they already have the skills and tools necessary to identify their feelings, cope with them, and regulate their emotional response.
4. Coping mechanisms
Different coping mechanisms work for different types of emotions. A feelings chart can help a student identify the emotions and feelings they are experiencing. Then, they can use the chart to learn about the coping mechanisms that will help them with that particular emotion or feeling. It can also help students identify alternative coping mechanisms available to them if previous methods are unsuccessful.
5. Mental health awareness
Schools continue to explore better resources and tools to support student mental health. Teachers and administrative professionals can support mental health initiatives with feeling charts for their early learners. Having feeling charts provides a gateway for students to open up and share their mental health struggles. This allows the school to identify potential struggles earlier and create support solutions sooner. Feeling charts are also essential in preventing emotional challenges from developing into more serious mental health issues and learning blocks.
6. Reduce behavioral problems
Students who are unable to recognize, regulate, and cope with their emotions will often act out in less desirable ways. This "cry for help" could be purposeful or unintentional. Disruptive emotional behaviors additionally impact other students. However, when early learning teachers leverage feeling charts, they can support the emotional needs of their students and better understand feelings before they translate them into disruptive behaviors.
Feeling charts are advantageous for individual students who need them as well as for the learning environment for other students. Helping young students recognize their emotions and giving them coping mechanisms gives them a healthier and less disruptive way to channel their feelings. This allows students to process their emotions in healthier ways, reducing the need or desire to act out.
7. Conflict resolution
Conflicts between students can escalate with the involved students being unable to communicate what is upsetting them clearly. Feelings charts help students with conflict resolution by helping them identify what bothers them and then clearly communicate that to the other students. Students can then work together to find a resolution that makes both students happy.
8. Enhanced academic performance
When students feel heard and supported, they perform better in academic settings. Having a support system means your emotions are validated, giving you a feeling of respect. When early learning students aren't worried about emotional distractors, such as stress, anxiety, fear, anger, or depression, they can focus on learning and academic tasks. With a clear mind focused on studies, information retention improves, and long-term academic performance improves.
FAQs about feeling charts in school
How can I set up a feeling chart in my early learning classroom?
Set up your classroom feeling charts with faces (actual or cartoon) that demonstrate various emotions, including happy, sad, angry, and scared. Young students can then point to the face that best describes how they feel.
What are some other feelings-related activities?
Accelerate Learning brainstorms several early learning games and activities that help young students connect and recognize their feelings. A few might include "Feelings Charades," emotion flashcards, emotions bingo, and listening games. Consider sensory toys, like Sensory Bottles and 3D Feel & Find games.
How do preschoolers usually express their feelings?
KidsHelpOnline shares that preschoolers typically express their feelings through body language, facial expressions, along with behavior and play.
Elevate early learning with feeling charts and School Outfitters
Having feelings charts available for students in schools provides multiple benefits. Schools can reduce behavioral issues and improve academic performance by teaching effective communication and emotional literacy with these and other feelings-based toys. Students feel empowered by having effective emotional coping mechanisms and the support of increased mental health awareness. The learning environment as a whole will enjoy a positive culture with improved communication and relationships.
Here at School Outfitters, our school furniture experts talk to hundreds of educators and administrators from around the country, helping them elevate their modern learning spaces. We're always eager to share new trends and insights with others, in our quest to create Experience Positive engagements for all students. Consider the growing popularity of feeling charts as a valued resource in your early learning classrooms this year. And let School Outfitters be your trusted partner for room designs, innovative furniture, and flexible learning spaces!
Request a quote today and start exploring our rendered room designs for inspiration!
