Check In With Your Students Every Day!

As teachers (who always have a lot going on!), we sometimes forget that our little learners have a lot going on in their own lives, too. This can affect their mood, as well as their readiness to learn. It is not always possible to leave these emotions behind when they walk through the classroom door!

As educators, it’s important to remember that academic success is only part of our responsibility. We must also prioritize the emotional well-being of our students. That’s why it’s essential to check in with how our students are feeling every day. By doing so, we can create a positive and supportive learning environment that fosters both academic and personal growth. Let’s make our students’ emotional awareness and self-regulation a major focus!

How to Use These Emotional Check-In Posters

This set of mood check-in posters has been designed to help learners of all ages identify how they are feeling. This is an essential emotional awareness skill that, once learned, will stand our students in good stead throughout their lives. The diverse range of emotions that humans can feel on any one day have been grouped into four categories to help them become more recognizable by the students:

• Tuckered Out Team – Uninterested, unwell, unmotivated, sleepy, confused.
• Cool Crew – Motivated, optimistic, positive, happy, collaborative, cooperative.
• Silly Squad – Overexcited, anxious, fidgety, impatient, unfocused, skilly.
• Grumpy Gang – Hurtful, agitated, mean, boisterous, terrified, aggressive.

To use this emotional awareness resource in your classroom, follow the simple steps below.

1. Download and print the resource. We recommend enlarging the posters to tabloid size for an optimal classroom display. If you have a tight color-printing budget, print the low-color version on colored cardboard (blue, green, yellow and red).
2. Create name tags for each student. You can do this by printing the name tags provided in the PDF (cardstock is recommended) and writing your students’ names directly onto the tags. Should you wish to type your students’ names directly into the name tags, you can do so by downloading the Google Slides version of the resource (which is accessible via the dropdown menu next to the Download button).
3. Before implementing this mood check-in system with your students, be sure they understand what each of the four categories represents. Spending a lesson unpacking the characteristics of each group will help you integrate the system into your normal classroom routines more seamlessly.
4. As your students come into the classroom each morning, have them move their name tag to the group that best encapsulates how they are feeling. Be sure the students understand that they have the ability to move their name tags throughout the day… emotions do come and go, after all!

Multiple File Options to Suit Your Needs

This resource can be downloaded in multiple file formats to best suit your needs. Use the dropdown menu to access:

• Full-color PDF
• Low-color PDF
• Editable Google Slides

Did you know this poster set is part of a suite of emotional self-regulation resources? You can access our class poster, desk mats and mood meter spinners below.

teaching resource

Emotional Self-Regulation Desk Mat

Promote emotional awareness and self-regulation in your classroom with this desk-sized strategies mat.

teaching resource

Emotional Self-Regulation – Student Emotion Mood Meter

Allow your students to communicate how they are feeling using a non-verbal, desk-sized mood meter.

teaching resource

Emotional Self-Regulation Poster

Promote emotional awareness and self-regulation in your classroom with this classroom poster.