This lesson introduces children to the importance of facial expressions and while recognizing their impact on other people. The feelings behind different facial expressions are discussed and the benefits of smiling at each other are emphasized. Students prepare to fill an unmet need for friendship by creating a banner to be given to a group selected by the class as part of a lesson later in this unit.

The learner will:

• identify and describe emotions behind certain facial expressions.
  
  
• tell how people feel when others smile at them.
  
  
• speak with a smile and good eye contact.
  
  
• identify and demonstrate the characteristics of "active listening."

Anticipatory Set:


If the teacher has written a song or chant about smiling, begin the lesson by teaching or reviewing the song or chant. Discuss facial expressions and the emotions that are behind them. Visual aids or acting out emotions may be used. After you discuss several facial expressions and emotions, focus the discussion on smiling. Some questions to help facilitate discussion could include:
"When do you smile? How do you feel when you smile?
How do you feel when other people smile?
Do you ever worry when other people smile?
Whose smiles do you like the most? Why?"

Teacher-Directed Activity:

• Pair students up. They are to take turns smiling at their partners and completing the sentence stem, "I smile when…" Direct students to be aware of maintaining good eye contact. Allow about three minutes for this activity.
  
  
• You could also do this part of the lesson by arranging the students in two concentric circles. The circles should each have the same number of students. The students in the inner circle stand facing out. The students in the outer circle each stand facing one of the students in the inner circle. Have the students smile and share their sentences with the person they are facing. After enough time has elapsed, tell the students in the outer circle to move one person to their left. The students in the center do not move. Repeat the sharing process with the new partner. Continue as long as you desire. This activity has the added benefit of reinforcing the mathematical concepts of shapes, even and odd numbers, direction, clockwise/counterclockwise and ordinal numbers.
  
  
• At the end of the practice period, seat the class in a circle where all can see and be seen. Have the students choose one of their ideas to share with the class. While speaking to the rest of the class, they are to smile and maintain good eye contact. Students are to practice good "active listening." They are to sit still, refrain from talking, look at the person who is sharing and refrain from negative remarks.
  
  
• If the class is sufficiently mature, you may add a layer of complexity to the lesson. Have some people smile at the speakers, others maintain a neutral expression and others look bored. Students are to observe what happens during the sharing time. Students should focus on remembering the things that make their classmates smile and on noticing those students who practice good "active listening."
  Periodically during the sharing time, ask students who finished sharing to identify others who practiced good "active listening," and what that person was doing that let you know that he or she was practicing good "active listening." When all have had a chance to share, ask for a few volunteers to identify a classmate and tell what made that person smile.
  
  
• Ask students how they felt when they were sharing and when they were listening.
  Did the listener's facial expression make any difference to the student who was speaking? Did listeners notice anything concerning how they affected the speakers? Can the class reach any conclusions? Does smiling make a difference?

Student Practice:

• Demonstrate technique of drawing on sandpaper with wax crayons and instruct students to draw pictures of themselves smiling. Be sure to show a sample. Students need to be aware that their drawings will be mirror images when they are transferred to the banner. For this reason, they should not write their names in crayon on the sandpaper. Names need to be written in pencil or marker on the back of the sandpaper. Do not write in crayon on the back, as it will melt during the transfer process. If crayon is used on the back, you can still transfer the drawing. However, you need to be sure to protect the iron with enough paper to avoid getting melted crayon on the iron's sole plate.
  
  
• You may require students to produce a sketch on a piece of plain paper before beginning work on the sandpaper. This will help conserve resources and can be a logical stopping point if you are going to work on this lesson for several sessions. You can also work on developing the concepts of planning (prewriting) and editing.

  Caution!
  Adequate safety measures and additional adult supervision are required to complete the following step in class.

• If help is available and time allows, pictures may be transferred to the banner during class. To do this, cover the work surface with a pad of newspapers topped with paper that does not have ink on it before placing the unfinished banner on it. Students' artwork is then placed face down on the banner one piece at a time and covered with a clean sheet of paper that is large enough to keep the iron from touching the banner. Place a hot, dry iron on top of the white paper until the image is transferred. Take care when moving the iron not to shift the artwork until transfer is completed. Allow it to cool slightly before lifting paper. Change paper if it becomes soiled.

Closure:

• After students have finished their artwork, you may have students share their pictures with the class before turning them in to be transferred to the banner. If the banner has already been finished, students may compare their sandpaper picture to its image on the banner.
  
  
• Ask students to recall the beginning of the lesson when they were sharing the things that made them smile with the rest of the class. Select students or ask for volunteers to share what they remember. Also, have students share the names of people they observed practicing good "active listening" and why they selected that person. What did that person do that showed good "active listening?"