This is a set of emotional development ELSA Session Plans for pupils to learn about new Emotional vocabulary. These plans are useful for KS2 upwards. They could possibly used for Year 2 with extra support. Included in the pack is a 18 page file with 5 sessions, some of them can be repeated with different emotions. All the supporting paper resources are included too. The sessions are split into: Learning objective What you need Activity Challenge and further work I think these plans will be useful for new ELSAs and those who just don’t have time allocated for planning. Pupils being able to identify and say how they are feeling can massively reduce the emotion they are feeling. Pupils emotional development is key to good Emotional literacy.

This journal will address many areas of a pupils’ well-being. It is suitable for KS2 upwards and even useful for adults! The journal is a way for pupils to find the positives in their life and to discover mindfulness and relaxation. Here are some of the areas addressed: Positivity Emotions Self-esteem Focus Target setting Mindfulness Relaxation Thinking skills Affirmations Scaling emotions Worries Thoughts and feelings Emotion tracking Gratitude/thankfulness Kindness Creativity Reflecting Planning Included in the pack: One weeks worth of journal – each day has 2 pages of things to fill in Independent journal sheet should pupils want to continue Worry garage Positives Jar 2 emotion trackers – dream catcher and mosaic End of week assessment Bullet journal sheet for creating Weekly review 8 front covers to choose from Doodles, drawings and scribbles sheet How to use the journal with lots of ideas for using in ELSA Sessions with a pupil – would also be useful to teachers, teaching assistants, learning mentors and counsellors.

This is a body sensations resource pack containing lots of ways to explore body sensations linked to emotion. Included in this resource pack: 4 different skin coloured body shapes (A3 size) and 1 in black and white, each showing a blank box for writing a feeling word and a scale to scale how big the feeling is. 48 image cards 96 sensation describing word cards 48 parts of the body cards 36 colour cards for describing what colour your emotions are Condensed A4 mat for discussion about feelings, sensations , sensation words and colours. A blank sheet for adding any other sensations, body parts, colours that might be needed. Visual representation of sizes for younger children. Purpose of the resource To identify body feelings and sensations. How do we feel in our bodies when we are anxious, angry, worried, happy, scared etc? Do we feel tingly, numb, wobbly, trembly, hot, empty and so on? This resource is a way for children to tell you how they are feeling in their bodies. The image cards can be used for children to place on the body shape where they are feeling this sensation. The words could be used instead of the images in the same way. They could also be used together. This resource is set up for A3 printing. Laminate all of the pieces so you can use it over and over for different children. This is suitable for children of all ages. If laminated the child could also use a dry wipe pen to draw facial expressions associated with the feeling they have. They can mark off on the scale how big their feeling is. There are some cards at the end of this pack with some visual representations of big, medium and small for very young children. If the child is unsure of body parts spend a little time going through the cards and placing them where they go on the body. You could make this a bit of a game. ‘Where is the scalp?’ The child can put the word where they think the scalp should be. What feelings do you get in your scalp if you are angry? They might pick the fire or pick hot. They might pick prickly or a picture of a brush. There are so many ways to use this resource with children to talk about their feelings. You could even use it as an interactive display. It is A3 size so you could have the body on the wall with the cards around the body so pupils could pick one of the picture or word cards and place it with a bit of bluetak onto the body where they feel that emotion. This is such a versatile resource and I think you will use it a lot.

This is a set of 56 anxiety cards with lots of helpful tips on how to manage anxiety. These can be used with children from KS2 upwards. There are 8 cards to an A4 sheet of paper. Use them as a focus for your sessions or just to read through and discuss with your pupils.

This FRIENDSHIP intervention planning resource pack is ready to go. Just print and deliver! This pack is suitable for WHOLE CLASS as well as group work. If there are teachers out there who have children who just don’t get along then try running this as an intervention during PSHE time. Each lesson will take approximately 40 minutes to an hour. It is perfect for an ELSA or teaching assistant who has to work with a group of children with friendship issues. Included in this pack: FRIENDS certificates (children colour in a letter after each lesson and take them away at the end of the intervention). 7 planning sessions which could be done over several weeks. 40 positive friendship cards The Key to deserving good friends worksheet Five posters looking at skills for empathy. Skills for empathy bookmarks for the children to take away A ‘Friend’ venn worksheet. Heart friends template How to apologise bookmark for the children to take away after the lesson.

Express yourself Art Doodling is a series of prompts for drawing. Children get so much from drawing. It is a way of self expression and self exploration. Children relax when drawing and are much more open to talking about their feelings. This booklet can be printed as A4 and stapled together or as A3 to give children more room for drawing. You could also just dip into the sheets and print the one you want to use. You could use the same sheet for the whole group or whole class of children. The booklet has purposely been created in black and white so as not to distract from the child’s drawings and of course to save printing costs. There are 40 activities in the booklet covering so many aspects of emotional literacy. I am sure children will get a lot out of the booklet and it will give you valuable information about their thoughts and feelings. It can also be used as a ready made lesson plan for one to one work or group work. Please ensure you use ADOBE to open PDFs because this will give you great options for printing.

This is a HUGE ELSA Secondary worksheet bundle with 68 worksheets that will be helpful for secondary pupils. It will also be good for upper KS2 or for those more mature pupils. It will also be helpful for adults too. All the worksheets are black and white for easy and cost effective printing. There is minimal clipart. Areas covered are: Self-esteem Emotions Wellbeing Anxiety They can be used individually with pupils, with groups of pupils and whole classes of pupils. Build your lesson around a worksheet. You could make up a workbook for each child you are working with to help with their specific problems by carefully choosing worksheets that would help them.

This bundle of posters and worksheets will help you explore physical signs of 10 different emotions with your pupils. I have included a learning objective to go with each worksheet. The pack contains the following: 10 Posters covering the emotions/feelings of Worried, happy, sad, angry, irritated, surprised, disgusted, embarrassed, tired and scared. 10 Worksheets covering their signs and sensations 10 Worksheets covering their physical appearance when feeling an emotion 10 Worksheets concentrating on different areas of the body for them to colour 8 Worksheets for coping skills.

The intervention Who is if for? This Anxiety and Worries Group intervention is for a group of up to six children and is led by a teaching assistant. The focus age range would be 7 to 11, although older pupils would probably benefit from this intervention. Children who worry a lot would be a good focus group for this intervention. It runs for approximately 40-60 minutes, weekly for six weeks. What does it cover? This Anxiety and Worries Group intervention covers emotions, relaxation, calming down techniques and learning objectives around anxiety and worries. Children will learn about emotions during each session and will also learn relaxation and calming techniques through the ‘relaxation time’. This knowledge and these skills will help them to become more emotionally literate. The warm-up games teach a variety of skills such as co-operation, team work, taking turns, communication skills, friendship, self-esteem and confidence. The coming together of a group fosters a sense of belonging and therefore raises self-esteem. Every opportunity should be taken to promote belonging and friendship. Relaxation exercises will help children to manage their anxiety and these are visited each session. Information on Anxieties and worries It is important to mention that anxiety is such a big problem and affects people in different ways and at different things. Sometimes there appears to be no reason for the anxiety. This intervention is about giving children the knowledge to help themselves and to gain a little understanding about what anxiety is. It is NOT about fixing children’s problems but about supporting them through their problems. Anxiety work needs to be done by professionals who have training in counselling or psychology. An ELSA or TA can offer knowledge and support and it is important that this line is not crossed and boundaries are clear. By giving children the self-awareness, knowledge and some relaxation skills you are empowering them to help themselves cope. If you are ever worried about a child then please do refer them on to professional services so they can get the help they need. What’s included in the pack? A planning booklet with 6 session plans. Circle time rules Warm up games for circle-time Assessments Emotion wheels Emotion wordmat Certificates Five Star Breathing poster NEEDS to know Poster Emotion cards NEEDS to know cards Anxiety physical symptoms cards Where in your body worksheet Anxiety cards Coping strategies poster Worry tree Thought bubbles (ants) Changing those thoughts worksheet Zap anxiety poster My Five a day plan ELSA/Teaching Assistant notes

This Rise and Thrive Teen self-esteem intervention is suitable for pupils in secondary. It may also be useful for mature year 6 pupils. It is a group intervention for approximately 6 pupils. It could be run whole class too. Self-esteem refers to how a person views and values themselves. It involves having a positive opinion about your own worth, abilities, and qualities. When someone has healthy self-esteem, they feel confident, capable, and deserving of love and respect. Self-esteem is important because it influences how you perceive yourself, how you interact with others, how you handle challenges in life and your mental wellbeing. An estimate of timings would be: Review last time and check in 10 minutes Activity 30 minutes Review 5 minutes Next time 5 minutes Make sure you have 50 minutes to an hour to run the intervention. There are six sessions to this intervention which will all help to raise self-esteem. Boosters and drainers – pupils will explore what boosts self-esteem and what drains self-esteem Strengths and talents -pupils will explore their strengths and talents Challenging negative self-talk – pupils will learn how to reframe their negative dialogue Building resilience – pupils will explore how to build their resilience by facing challenges and setbacks Healthy and unhealthy relationships – pupils will explore relationships Impact of self-care – pupils will learn the importance of self-care and the impact that has on self-esteem Included in the Rise and Thrive teen self-esteem intervention: Planning booklet with 6 fully planned sessions Self-esteem scale for scaling at the beginning and end of the intervention Lesson 1 – 36 Booster and drainer cards, Booster and drainer worksheet, emotions and self esteem visual Lesson 2 – 40 strength cards, Building my strengths worksheet Lesson 3 – Inner dialogue list for prompting, Challenging my inner dialogue worksheet Lesson 4 – Resilience diary – front cover and one sheet to be copied multiple times Lesson 5 – 8 prompts cards for relationships, Profile of a healthy relationship worksheet Lesson 6 – Self care plan worksheet

This intervention is written for a group of four pupils and is led by an ELSA or teaching assistant. It covers emotions, relaxation and lessons around worries. It runs for approximately 40 minutes. This intervention is aimed at 5 to 7 year olds. This intervention follows this structure Welcome and emotional register– welcome the pupils to the group, go over the circle time rules and talk about how they feel today. Activity – this is where the pupils work on the learning objective. Relaxation/Mindfulness – pupils are more ready to go back to class if they are relaxed and calm. This also teaches them valuable coping/relaxation skills. Review of the session – pupils talk about their learning experience. There are lots of resources in this pack and LOTS of visuals to help children to understand. Lesson objectives Lesson 1 – I can tell you what a worried face looks like Lesson 2 – I can understand how worries can make my body feel uncomfortable Lesson 3 – I can tell you if my worry is a BIG or a SMALL worry Lesson 4 – I can understand how my thoughts can make me feel uncomfortable Lesson 5 – I know some ways to calm myself down Lesson 6 – I can park my worries and make a plan

Stress This resource is about stress and coping strategies. Some stress can be good because it can actually encourage and motivate you to work harder. When you get too much stress it can make you feel overwhelmed. Finding a balance is key to managing stress. Stress bucket The bucket is a metaphor for the body and the water is a metaphor for stress and coping strategies. This resource will lead the child through making a stress bucket and learning how to use it. Levels of stress Depending on the person, the level of water in the bucket may already be high due to past experiences. Stress entering the body isn’t necessarily filling up an empty bucket. It is adding to what is already there. Every day stressors can soon overflow the bucket. There are always people and children who blow up over the slightest thing and this is probably because their stress is quite high all of the time. Turning on the tap Turning the tap on is a metaphor for letting out the stress and the best way to do this is through coping strategies. Coping strategies can be anything that the calms the person down from ‘calming breathing’ to ‘having a run’. It might also be things they enjoy doing, something that makes them feel happy. It can be individual to the person on what works for them. What relieves their stress? Included in the pack Stress scales. These could be used as bookmarks and taken away. A4 poster that could be stuck to the wall as a reminder 24 additional supporting worksheets An A4 bucket and pocket – pupils can put their stress INTO the bucket by using the pocket Cloud and water for the craft Different sizes of water droplets Information sheets including examples of stressors, de-stressing ideas, physical body signs, and how it affects emotions and behaviour

This EBSA workbook School difficulties has been created with valuable help from the members of the ELSA Support Facebook Group who provided some of the difficulties their pupils face. It relies on real life situations that pupils have found difficult about coming to school. ELSAs are often on the front line trying to help pupils back into school and to work on their difficulties. The booklet is aimed from Year 3 to Year 6 but could also be used with Year 2 with support. We also have EBSA workbook school thoughts and feelings and EBSA Workbook Coping with school worries on the website. EBSA is Emotionally based school avoidance. Pupils who struggle to come to school or are non attenders. This might have an emotional cause or a mental health cause. The activity consists of a sorting board, cards with suggestions, cards for pupils to write their own, an exploration board, a feelings board with scales and changes and what they want to happen to make things feel ok. This activity will help pupils to identify what is bothering them at school and how to reduce that feeling by changing the situation. Start by printing out the base board and cutting up the cards. Print out a blank sheet so the pupil can add their own if they want to. Help the pupil sort the cards between things that are ok, things they are unsure of and things that are not ok. Once you have done that choose one of the things that are not ok and look at it further. Help the pupil break it down to see if you can find out what the actual issue is. Example might be ‘seating plan’ that is not ok. What is it about the seating plan that is not ok? Is it that they are sitting next to someone they don’t like? Perhaps they can’t hear the teacher? Perhaps they are uncomfortable and there might be a draft or a bright light bothering them. They might prefer to be sitting with a friend. Perhaps someone copies off them or talks to them and they don’t like that. Try and help the pupil to break down the difficulty. Once they have the root cause of their difficulty, help them to identify how it makes them feel. Can they put a name to that feeling? How big is that feeling? There is a sheet for pupil voice to say what changes need to happen for them to be ok. They can write it or you can write it for them and they can tell you what needs to change. There is also a daily sheet for pupils to write down anything that they think of or that crops up for them. There are also some additional supporting resources included in the pack This is the first workbook in the EBSA Workbook Range.

Resource from ELSA SUPPORT Print out the skin tone that you require. This resource has five different skin tones to suit all children. There are also 15 different sets of eyes and mouths and a set of emotions vocabulary flash cards. Laminate all the pieces and keep in a zipped bag for convenience. The aim of this resource is for children to begin to recognise facial expressions and talk about their feelings. It is excellent for children on the autistic spectrum. This resource is also very good for early years settings and can be put into an area of provision, allowing children to experiment and make different faces. Can they match the eyes to the mouth? Can they tell you what the expression is that they have made? Parents would also find this resource helpful for their preschool children. Questions you could ask – can you make me a ‘angry face’? What would ‘angry’ eyes look like? What would ‘sad’ eyes look like? Can you make me a ‘sad face’? Also use other vocabulary such as ‘miserable, frustrated, terrified, proud’. There are so many possibilities for working with this resource. The cards could be used as a matching pairs game. Lay out all the cards and ask a child to choose a mouth and eyes that match – name the emotion. Use the face (laminated) for drawing emotion faces. Put it alongside a mirror so children can make faces themselves. Use the angry eyes and mouth to discuss anger and how to recognise when they are becoming angry. What makes them angry? What could they do when they are angry? Pick an emotions flashcard(included with the pack) and make the appropriate face.

This resource is ideal for working one to one with a child. The red light is the negative emotion such as anger, frustration, fear, worry, sad and upset. The green light is the positive emotion such as happy, chilled, content, ok, calm, and confident. The amber/yellow light is all the things the child can do to help get from the red light to the green light. These are the tools. Make sure you go through the resource with the child and decide which ‘tools’ they need to use or try. Print and laminate this resource, Cut out the cards and keep in a little zip folder, Use either velcro or blu tak to stick the cards onto the base board. If you need the cards to be bigger just print all of it onto A3 paper and laminate.

A free self esteem poster for teens and young people.

This feel the feels worksheet set contains a worksheet for 20 different feelings/emotions. Suitable for Key stage 2, 3 and 4.

This gratitude jar will help children look for the positives in their lives. Gratitude according to Positive psychology is strongly linked to being happy. I have done lots of jar activities but think that gratitude is such an important one so deserves its own post. This resources has a jar with and without lines. It also has a long list of suggestions/prompts to encourage children to reflect on things they are grateful or thankful for. The jar without lines can be decorated with pictures, photographs and words. Make it colourful. It could also be used each day and the child adds just one thing for that day they are grateful or thankful for. Of course you could make an actual jar with a lovely label and ask the child to fill it each day with things they are grateful for.

This is an anger scale poster or visual for display or for showing pupils who struggle with anger. It could also be put up in classrooms or work areas.