English · Year 1

Active learning ideas

Character Emotions and Reactions

Active learning helps students connect abstract emotions to concrete story elements. When children physically explore settings and act out reactions, they build deeper empathy and comprehension. This hands-on approach moves emotions from vague feelings to observable behaviors tied to place and time.

• National Curriculum Attainment Targets
• KS1: English - Reading (Comprehension)
• KS1: English - Spoken Language

• 20–40 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 3 activities

Activity 01

• Gallery Walk
• 20 min · Pairs

Gallery Walk: Setting Scavenger Hunt

Place various storybook illustrations around the room. Students move in pairs to identify the 'where' and 'when' for each, recording one descriptive word for the atmosphere (e.g., 'spooky' or 'sunny').

Predict how a character might feel in a given situation.

Facilitation Tip

For the Gallery Walk, place large images around the room and have students move in pairs to discuss what the setting suggests about possible character emotions.

What to look for

Present students with a short scenario from a familiar story (e.g., 'The character dropped their ice cream'). Ask them to point to a face card showing how the character might feel and then say one word explaining why.

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Create
• Relationship Skills
• Social Awareness

Activity 02

• Inquiry Circle
• 40 min · Small Groups

Inquiry Circle: Sensory Setting Maps

In small groups, students choose a setting (like a beach) and list what they would see, hear, smell, and feel there. They create a large collage using textures like sand or cotton wool to represent the setting.

Differentiate between a character's outward actions and their inner feelings.

Facilitation Tip

During the Sensory Setting Maps, ask guiding questions like, 'What sounds would a character hear in this place?' to push students beyond visual details.

What to look for

Read a short passage where a character acts one way but might feel another. Ask: 'What did the character *do*? What do you think they were *feeling* inside? How do you know?' Encourage students to use evidence from the text or illustrations.

• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Self-Management
• Self-Awareness

Activity 03

• Simulation Game
• 25 min · Whole Class

Simulation Game: The Setting Switch

Take a well-known story and ask students how it would change if the setting moved (e.g., 'The Three Little Pigs' in space). Students act out a short scene to show how the new setting changes the characters' actions.

Justify a character's reaction based on story events.

Facilitation Tip

In the Setting Switch simulation, freeze the action mid-scene and ask, 'How would this character’s feelings change if we moved to...' to deepen perspective-taking.

What to look for

Show an illustration of a character in a specific situation. Ask students to write or draw: 1. How the character feels. 2. One thing the character might do next because of that feeling.

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Social Awareness
• Decision-Making

A few notes on teaching this unit

Teach emotions as reactions to setting by modeling think-alouds. Show how a dark forest might make a character nervous, or a busy market might make them excited. Avoid listing emotions in isolation. Instead, connect them directly to the environment using evidence from the text or illustrations. Research shows that when students physically map settings, their emotional reasoning becomes more precise and memorable.

Students will confidently link setting details to character emotions and reactions. They will use evidence from text and illustrations to explain why a character feels and acts a certain way. Small-group discussions and mapping activities will show their growing ability to analyze story contexts.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During the Gallery Walk: Setting Scavenger Hunt, some students may treat 'time' as separate from 'place'.

  During the Gallery Walk, pause at each image and ask, 'Is this place from morning, afternoon, or night? How does that change how someone might feel here?' Point to both spatial and temporal clues in the illustration.

• During the Sensory Setting Maps, students may assume a story has only one setting.

  During the Sensory Setting Maps, provide two story scenarios where characters move (e.g., from home to school). Ask students to draw both locations and connect them with arrows to show how settings change as the story progresses.

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Methods used in this brief

• Gallery Walk
• Inquiry Circle
• Simulation Game