Imagine if you only felt so-called positive feelings, like excitement, joy, peace and safety. It might sound great but it’s unrealistic. Being human means we experience all sorts of emotions, even ones that feel painful or uncomfortable (like anger, fear and sadness). Accepting these feelings is important and can improve your wellbeing. This resources pack includes an article from The Week Junior magazine, along with a sheet of activities designed to get children thinking, talking and writing about what the story means to them.
Oracy
Some years ago, the Government said it was going to make mental health as important as physical health. But is it really fair to say that they should be treated equally? Surely, it’s usually much easier to see what the problem is when it’s a disease or a broken bone so something can be done to fix it. Or do you think that mental health treatments should be as readily available as physical ones? Isn’t it wrong to make people wait longer for mental health treatments just because their conditions might not be as obvious as a wheelchair, for example? What do you think?
Writing skills
Write a diary entry about a day when something upsetting happened to you. Use your most powerful words, including figurative language such as similes and metaphor, to explain what you felt and how your body reacted.
Or
Write an acrostic poem about either anger, sadness or jealousy. Remember, in an acrostic poem, the first letter of each line spells the key word when read downwards.
Investigate
Research the origins of April Fools’ Day and write up what you’ve learnt in one or two paragraphs. Challenge: compare your findings with others in your class. Are they the same? If not, why not?
Find the entire series of Topical Tuesday resources to download in our Topical Tuesdays collection.
What is The Week Junior?
The Week Junior magazine looks at current affairs and helps children make sense of the world, provides context and clarity to complex issues, improves general knowledge and encourages discussion and debate.
To find out more about The Week Junior and to download its free resources, please go to The Week Junior website.