OuiSi · Social and emotional learning

Reading the mood

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Grades K–5 Teaching 30 min Plus 2 to set out, 2 to clear Class any size Set any Prep none

set out 2′ One card, the whole room 7′ What is doing the work 10′ Change the feeling 8′ Close 5′ clear 2′

Goal: Children work out which visual choices carry a feeling, and discover that the same image reads differently to different people — without anyone having to talk about themselves.
Materials: One OuiSi Photo-Card set. About six cards per group of four.

K–1: Happy and not happy. Stop after naming what does the work — about 22 min
Grades 2–3: Calm and not calm, all four steps — the full 30 min
Grades 4–5: A harder pair — safe and unsafe, or still and moving — the full 30 min

1 · One card, the whole room

7 min

Hold up a single card where everyone can see it. Do not choose a dramatic one.

Thumbs up if this feels calm to you. Thumbs down if it does not.

The room will split. That split is the lesson, and it arrives in the first minute.

Somebody who put a thumb up — what can you see that makes it calm?

Somebody who put a thumb down — what can you see that makes it not calm?

Both answers point at real things in the picture. Say out loud that they are both right, because they are.

2 · What is doing the work

10 min

Groups of four, about six cards each, face up.

Sort your cards into two piles. Calm and not calm. You have to agree as a group.

Once sorted, the real question.

What made the calm ones calm? Name the thing you can see, not the feeling.

They will land on color, light, how busy it is, soft edges against sharp ones. Those are the levers, and children find them without being told they exist.

3 · Change the feeling

8 min

Find two cards that feel completely different from each other. Put them side by side.

Now put a third card between them that makes the jump feel smaller.

This is the hardest step and the most interesting. A middle card that softens the gap is doing exactly what a transition does in music or a sentence.

4 · Close

5 min

Name one card your group disagreed about. Just the card.

Take two or three. Disagreement is the finding here, so do not resolve it.

Watch for

Looking for the right answer. There is not one, and this lesson is built on there not being one. Say it in step one and the rest goes smoothly.
Feeling words instead of visual ones. In step two, it is sad is not yet an answer. Keep asking what they can see that makes them say so.
Never require disclosure. This lesson reads the image, not the child. If a child connects a card to their own life, follow their lead, but never ask the room to.
Something heavier than you planned for. Images reach things words defend. Know in advance how you would respond and who you would tell, and follow your setting's safeguarding policy.

Adapt

Multilingual learners — thumbs and pointing carry every step. Supply the English feeling word after the visual one.
Speech and language — pointing at the part of the card that does the work is a full answer.
Autistic children — the visual levers are concrete and findable, which is a different demand from naming a feeling. If naming the feeling is the hard part, step two is a complete way in.
Anxiety — stop after step two. Step three asks for more exposure than some rooms want.

Curriculum links. Identifying the visual features that carry a feeling · Separating the feature from the feeling it produces · Negotiating a classification a group can agree on · Sequencing images to soften a contrast · Naming a disagreement without making it personal.
Standard codes vary by state and district — these are the skills exercised, for you to map to your own.

Replaces two older guides. Emotions and expression of feelings were the same lesson described twice. This version reads the image rather than asking children to report on themselves — pair it with How today feels when you do want the personal version.
Screen-free. No codes and no devices. Works with any OuiSi Photo-Card set.