Lesson Plan
Coping Skills: Your Superpowers! Lesson Plan
Students will be able to identify and describe at least three healthy coping skills they can use to manage their emotions.
Learning coping skills is essential for managing daily stresses and big feelings. This lesson empowers students to handle challenges in a healthy way, promoting their emotional well-being and resilience.
Audience
5th Grade Students
Time
30 minutes
Approach
Interactive discussion, examples, and a scenario-based activity.
Materials
Whiteboard or projector, Coping Skills Slide Deck, Coping Skills Warm Up, Coping Skills Scenario Challenge, My Coping Skills Worksheet, and Coping Skills Cool Down
Prep
Prepare Materials
10 minutes
- Review the Coping Skills Slide Deck and practice the script.
- Print copies of the My Coping Skills Worksheet (one per student).
- Review the Coping Skills Scenario Challenge and decide how you will group students for discussion.
- Review the Coping Skills Warm Up and Coping Skills Cool Down.
Step 1
Warm Up: How Do You Feel?
5 minutes
- Begin with the Coping Skills Warm Up.
- Ask students to share one feeling they are currently experiencing and, if comfortable, a brief reason why.
- Facilitate a brief discussion about how different feelings can impact us.
Step 2
Introduction to Coping Skills
7 minutes
- Use the Coping Skills Slide Deck to introduce the concept of coping skills.
- Explain that coping skills are healthy ways to deal with difficult emotions.
- Introduce the first three coping skills: Deep Breathing, Talking to a Trusted Adult, and Creative Expression (drawing, writing).
- Provide examples for each skill.
Step 3
Coping Skills Scenario Challenge
10 minutes
- Introduce and facilitate the Coping Skills Scenario Challenge.
- Divide students into small groups or pairs.
- Present scenarios (from the activity sheet or verbally) and have groups discuss which coping skill they would use and why.
- Bring the class back together to share some of their discussions.
Step 4
My Coping Skills Worksheet
5 minutes
- Distribute the My Coping Skills Worksheet.
- Instruct students to write down the three coping skills discussed and one personal example of how they might use each.
- Collect the worksheets at the end of class for assessment of understanding.
Step 5
Cool Down: One New Skill
3 minutes
- Conclude with the Coping Skills Cool Down.
- Ask students to reflect on which coping skill they might try this week.
- Emphasize that it's okay to feel emotions, and coping skills help us manage them in a healthy way.
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Slide Deck
Coping Skills: Your Superpowers!
How do you handle your feelings?
Welcome students and introduce the topic of feelings and how we handle them. Start with the warm-up activity from the lesson plan.
What Are Coping Skills?
Healthy ways to deal with your feelings!
- Help us feel better
- Keep us calm
- Are good for our minds and bodies
How can feelings impact us?
- Happy: You might smile, laugh, want to play with friends.
- Sad: You might feel quiet, want to be by yourself, or cry.
- Angry: You might feel like shouting, stomping your feet, or getting frustrated.
- Anxious/Worried: You might feel butterflies in your stomach, have trouble focusing, or feel shaky.
Explain that everyone has feelings, and it's okay to feel them. Introduce the idea of 'coping skills' as healthy ways to deal with those feelings, especially tough ones. Provide examples of how feelings can impact us, for instance, feeling angry might make us stomp our feet, or feeling sad might make us want to be alone.
Coping Skill #1: Deep Breathing
When you feel upset, anxious, or overwhelmed...
- Breathe in slowly through your nose.
- Hold for a few seconds.
- Breathe out slowly through your mouth.
Try it now! Take 3 deep breaths with me.
Introduce Deep Breathing. Guide students through a simple deep breathing exercise (e.g., 'smell the flower, blow out the candle'). Emphasize that this can be done anywhere, anytime.
Coping Skill #2: Talk to a Trusted Adult
When you have big feelings, worries, or problems...
- Find someone you trust (parent, teacher, counselor).
- Share what's on your mind.
- They can offer advice, comfort, or just listen.
Introduce Talking to a Trusted Adult. Discuss who a trusted adult might be (parent, teacher, counselor, older sibling, coach) and why it's helpful to share feelings with them.
Coping Skill #3: Creative Expression
When you need to let out your feelings or just relax...
- Draw a picture.
- Write a story or poem.
- Listen to music.
- Sing or dance.
It's a way to express yourself without words!
Introduce Creative Expression. Explain that this can be drawing, writing, painting, singing, dancing, or playing music. The goal is to channel feelings into something creative.
Remember Your Superpowers!
You now have three amazing coping skills:
- Deep Breathing
- Talk to a Trusted Adult
- Creative Expression
Which one will you try today?
Summarize the three skills. Prepare students for the activity where they will apply one of these skills. Encourage them to remember these options.
Warm Up
How Do You Feel Today?
Welcome to class! Today, we're going to talk about feelings and how we handle them.
Take a moment to think about how you are feeling right now. It's okay to feel happy, sad, excited, tired, or anything else!
In one or two words, describe how you are feeling today:
If you're comfortable, be ready to share why you're feeling that way. We'll chat about how our feelings can impact our day and how we can learn to manage them.
Activity
Coping Skills Scenario Challenge!
Today we learned about three awesome coping skills:
- Deep Breathing
- Talking to a Trusted Adult
- Creative Expression
Let's put our coping superpowers to the test! We'll explore different situations and figure out which coping skill would be most helpful.
How to Play:
- The teacher will present a scenario (or you can pick one from the list below).
- In small groups or pairs, discuss:
- What feeling might someone have in this situation?
- Which of our three coping skills (Deep Breathing, Talking to a Trusted Adult, Creative Expression) would be the best to use?
- Why would that coping skill help?
- Be ready to share your group's ideas with the class!
Scenario Ideas:
- You feel frustrated because your tower keeps falling down in Minecraft.
- You are nervous about a big battle in Fortnite.
- Someone said something unkind to you in a Roblox game.
- You had a big disagreement with a friend while playing Animal Crossing.
- You feel really excited and have a lot of energy.
- You miss someone important to you.
- You made a mistake and feel embarrassed.
- You are trying to focus, but there's a lot of noise.
- You're feeling shy and don't know what to say.
- Your favorite character in a game just got eliminated.
- You're trying to build something cool in Roblox, but it's not working out.
- You're trading items in Animal Crossing and someone tries to trick you.
Let's help each other become coping skill champions!
Worksheet
My Coping Skills Inventory
Great job learning about coping skills today! These are powerful tools to help you manage your feelings in a healthy way.
Now, let's list the three coping skills we discussed and think about how you can use them.
Coping Skill 1: Deep Breathing
How would you use deep breathing when you have a strong feeling?
Coping Skill 2: Talk to a Trusted Adult
Who is a trusted adult you could talk to, and what might you say?
Coping Skill 3: Creative Expression
What kind of creative expression would you use (drawing, writing, music, etc.), and how would it help you?
Cool Down
One New Superpower This Week
We've learned about some great coping skills today. It's important to remember that everyone has feelings, and using coping skills helps us manage them.
Think about the three coping skills we discussed:
- Deep Breathing
- Talk to a Trusted Adult
- Creative Expression
Which ONE coping skill do you think you will try to use this week if you have a strong or challenging feeling?
Why did you choose this one?