Whole Earth Curriculum WEC

Lesson 04 — Where Feelings Live in My Body

Learners build a body map: they notice where feelings show up — tense shoulders, a fast heartbeat, hot cheeks, a heavy chest, a wobbly tummy — and practice a short body scan, learning that the body is always talking to us.

D01 P1: Emotional & Social Awareness D01.S1 50 minutes Draft

Objectives

Essential question

Where does a feeling show up in my body, and what is it telling me?

body signaltenseheartbeatshouldersnotice

Materials

Standard materials

Low-tech / no-cost

Enriched / lab & device

Works in different contexts

A body map showing a simple child body outline with five labeled feeling spots marked by shapes: tense shoulders (diamond, for mad and frustrated), a fast heartbeat on the chest (star, for scared and excited), hot cheeks (circle, for mad), a heavy chest (heart, for sad and disappointed), and a wobbly tummy (triangle, for nervous). A legend on the right repeats each shape with its body spot and the feelings that live there. The body is drawn in a neutral tone so any learner can see it as their own body. Shapes and words, not color, carry the meaning.
A body map showing a simple child body outline with five labeled feeling spots marked by shapes: tense shoulders (diamond, for mad and frustrated), a fast heartbeat on the chest (star, for scared and excited), hot cheeks (circle, for mad), a heavy chest (heart, for sad and disappointed), and a wobbly tummy (triangle, for nervous). A legend on the right repeats each shape with its body spot and the feelings that live there. The body is drawn in a neutral tone so any learner can see it as their own body. Shapes and words, not color, carry the meaning.

Lesson 4 — Where Feelings Live in My Body

Summary

Learners build a body map and learn that every feeling shows up somewhere in the body — tense shoulders, a fast heartbeat, hot cheeks, a heavy chest, a wobbly tummy. They practice a short body scan and mark their own feeling spots. The body is always talking; learning to listen is the beginning of understanding ourselves.

Objectives

  • Notice where a feeling shows up in the body, such as tense shoulders or a fast heartbeat, and name the feeling. (D01.S1.02.02)

Connection

Put your hand on your chest right after you run fast — your heart is pounding. That is your body talking. Your body talks all the time, not just when you run. When you are mad, your shoulders might pull up tight. When you are scared or excited, your heart beats fast. When you are sad, your chest can feel heavy. Your body is a messenger, and learning to listen to it helps you know what you are feeling before you even have the words.

Materials

  • Body map poster (blank body outline)
  • Shape stickers or colored dots (heart, diamond, circle, triangle, square, star)
  • Small mirrors (optional)

Preparation

  • Draw or print the blank body map poster.
  • Prepare the shape stickers or dots and a legend (shape → feeling spot).
  • Set aside a quiet space for the body scan.

Facilitator note

This lesson is written to the learner (“you”). Some learners will feel a feeling everywhere or nowhere, and some bodies signal differently — honor both. There is no “wrong” spot; the goal is noticing, not matching a chart. Frame every description as a possibility (“many people feel mad as tense shoulders — where do you feel it?”). Model the body scan with your own body. For learners with limited sensation or mobility, the spot can be named and pointed to on the poster or on a partner’s body with consent.

Procedure

  1. Gather (5 min). You have named look-alike feelings — mad, frustrated, sad, disappointed. Today you find out where those feelings live in your body.
  2. Meet the body spots (15 min). Look at the body map. For each spot, hear where a feeling often lives — then check your own body: tense shoulders (mad, frustrated — your shoulders pull up toward your ears), fast heartbeat (scared, excited — put a hand on your chest and feel it), hot cheeks (mad — your face flushes warm), heavy chest (sad, disappointed — your chest feels full and slow), wobbly tummy (nervous — a fluttery, shaky feeling low in your belly).
  3. Body scan (10 min). Sit or lie quietly. Close your eyes or soften them. Travel from your head down to your toes: shoulders, chest, cheeks, tummy, hands. Notice one thing your body is doing right now. Is anything tight, fast, heavy, or warm? Name it, even if it is small.
  4. Mark your own map (10 min). On the big body map — or your own outline — put a shape on the spot where you feel mad, where you feel sad, where you feel excited. Your map may not match a friend’s map, and that is exactly right: every body talks in its own way.
  5. Close (5 min). Your body is always talking to you. Learning to listen is how you understand your feelings. Next time you notice tight shoulders or a fast heart, you can ask: “What am I feeling?”

Differentiation

  • Support: Introduce one or two body spots at a time; point to the spot on the poster and on your own body.
  • Extension: Keep a one-day “body signal journal” — draw or write one body signal you noticed and the feeling it named.

Assessment

  • Formative (observation): Can the learner point to a body spot and name the feeling that often lives there?
  • Artifact (portfolio): The learner’s marked body map.

Home connection

Teach someone at home one body signal — for example, “mad shows up as tense shoulders” — and ask them where they feel mad or sad.

Resources