In Emotions Mixup, the playing area is divided into a four-zoned grid. Each zone is assigned and colour and an energy and pleasantness rating:
The teacher will call out emotions from the Mood Meter. Once students hear an emotion’s label, they need to quickly run to the zone that they believe the emotion is located in on the Mood Meter.
Once students have made their selection, the teacher will share the emotion’s location on the Mood Meter. Students who successfully identified the emotion’s zone earn a point.
Build One: Pleasantness Scale
Students gather in the middle of the playing area
The teacher assigns one endline as the PLEASANT line.
The opposite endline is assigned as the UNPLEASANT line.
The teacher calls out "PLEASANT" or "UNPLEASANT". When they do, students run as fast as they can to that line.
Once students have shown that they understand the lines, the teacher will introduce the Mood Meter poster and explain how different emotions can create different levels of pleasantness. For example, some emotions - like joy - feel good and are therefore pleasant. Other emotions don't feel good - like sadness - and are therefore unpleasant.
Once the class has learned about the pleasantness scale, the teacher will resume play. However, this time the teacher will call out an emotion. When they do so, students need to react and run to either the "PLEASANT" or "UNPLEASANT" side of the playing area based on where they believe that emotion falls on the pleasantness scale.
Build Two: Energy
The teacher will now assign one sideline as "HIGH ENERGY" and the other as "LOW ENERGY"
Just as in build one, the teacher will have the students practice running to either line by calling out "HIGH" or "LOW".
Once students have shown that they understand the lines, the teacher will reintroduce the Mood Meter poster and explain how different emotions can cause us to feel different levels of energy. For example, some emotions - like excitement - make us feel full of energy and are therefore categorized as high energy emotions. Other emotions make us feel sluggish - like exhaustion - and are therefore categorized as low energy emotions.
Once the class has learned about the energy scale, the teacher will resume play. However, this time the teacher will call out an emotion. When they do so, students need to react and run to either the "HIGH ENERGY" or "LOW ENERGY" side of the playing area based on where they believe that emotion falls on the energy scale.
Build Three: Emotions Mixup
For build three, the teacher will use colour-coordinated cones to divide the playing area into four zones: red, blue, green, and yellow.
The teacher will then explain how the Mood Meter has the same four zones and how each zone has its own energy and pleasantness rating:
Now when the teacher calls out an emotion, the students need to run to the zone that they believe that emotion lives in.
You might see some interesting results in this build, so be sure to invite students to discuss why they made their choices. Self-awareness is an important social and emotional learning competency and the more we discuss emotions the more we grow our capacity to identify them.
Build Four: Getting Granular
In this build, the teacher will break each quadrant down into smaller sections. To do so, the teacher will make a 3x3 grid of polyspots in each quadrant.
Within the grid, there are spots for low, medium, and high levels of either energy or pleasantness.
The idea here is to help students really get in tune with the smaller differences between different levels of emotions.
When the teacher calls out the next emotion, students need to run to the quandrant where they believe that emotion lives and stand near the spot that represents where that emotions would be placed on the Mood Meter's grid.
Once students have picked their location, the teacher can then provide as description of the emotion and allow students to adjust their choices.
Once choices are finalized, the teacher can reveal the emotion's exact location on the Mood Meter's grid.
The goal here is to help students develop their ability to make sense of the emotions that they experience and fine-tune their emotional vocabulary.
By being able to label their emotions correctly, students will be in a better place to be able to regulate those emotions in healthy ways.
Students should always keep their eyes up when running.
If possible, use non-stick polyspots and cones that are easy to see.
When creating the 3×3 grid, polyspots should be placed far enough apart to avoid overcrowding.
