Honouring Diversity: Early Elementary Activity (Jenny Pallesen)
To begin the discussion, I would have students talk about the following questions:
1. What are feelings? Name some feelings that you have felt.
2. Name feelings that you like and feelings that you don’t like.
3. What do you do when you feel happy? What do you do when you feel sad? What helps you feel better when you’re feeling sad about something?
We would then read a story, after which students would draw a picture and write a sentence (depending on the grade) about how the story made them feel.
1. What are feelings? Name some feelings that you have felt.
2. Name feelings that you like and feelings that you don’t like.
3. What do you do when you feel happy? What do you do when you feel sad? What helps you feel better when you’re feeling sad about something?
We would then read a story, after which students would draw a picture and write a sentence (depending on the grade) about how the story made them feel.
Story Ideas
Kindergarten and Grade 1
Everybody Feels... Sad by Jane Bingham
Read the excerpt titled Amy's Story:
"I'm Amy. When I was three years old, my grandma gave me a rabbit. I called him Archie. I played with Archie everyday. He looked funny when he twitched his nose. One day, Archie was sick. We took him to the vet, but she couldn't make him better. The next day Archie died."
Everybody Feels... Sad by Jane Bingham
Read the excerpt titled Amy's Story:
"I'm Amy. When I was three years old, my grandma gave me a rabbit. I called him Archie. I played with Archie everyday. He looked funny when he twitched his nose. One day, Archie was sick. We took him to the vet, but she couldn't make him better. The next day Archie died."
Grade 2 and 3Michael Rosen's Sad Book is a story about a father losing his son, and experiencing the sadness and tragedy of it. Throughout the book, the father describes how his sadness affects him, and how he tries to cope with it.
Sadness versus Depression
I would then talk to the students about what the differences between sadness and depression are. When you're in a sad mood, it may feel like it will last forever, but usually feelings of sadness don't last very long — a few moments, a few hours, or maybe a day or two. But sometimes sad feelings can go on for too long, hurt too deeply, and make it hard for you to enjoy the good things about your life. This deeper, more intense kind of sadness that lasts a lot longer is called depression. People of all ages can become depressed — even kids. Depression brings down a person's mood and energy. It can affect how people think about themselves and their situation. If you think you have depression or you just have sadness that simply will not go away, it is important to talk to an adult about it.