Students will recognize and express their feelings and understand key qualities of healthy friendships. They will learn to identify emotions and practice empathetic communication.
Developing emotional literacy and social skills helps students build positive relationships and strong self-awareness, which are critical for lifelong well-being.
Audience
3rd Grade
Time
30 minutes
Approach
Interactive discussion, role-playing and reflective activities.
Guide each group through a role-play emphasizing empathy, listening, and kind responses.
Step 4
Wrap-Up and Reflection
5 minutes
Facilitate a class discussion on what they learned about feelings and friendships.
Encourage students to share one takeaway or compliment a peer on their role-playing.
Slide Deck
Feelings and Friendships
Welcome! Today we will learn about our feelings and explore what makes a healthy friendship.
Introduce the lesson with enthusiasm. Explain that today we'll explore our feelings and what makes a good friend. Mention that it's okay to share and listen.
Introduction & Discussion
How are you feeling today? Why? Let's talk about different emotions and what they mean.
Ask students to share how they are feeling. Use this opportunity to write down emotions on the board and introduce the idea of emotion cards later.
Interactive Activity: Emotion Cards
Take a look at your Emotion Card. Share a time when you felt that way and connect it to your experiences with friends.
Explain the interactive activity. Show the students the emotion cards if possible. Encourage examples and relate to personal experiences.
Friendship Role-Play
In groups, role-play a scenario that shows empathy, active listening, and kind responses. Let's practice being good friends!
Describe the role-play activity and assign groups. Guide students to act out a friendship scenario, focusing on empathy and listening.
Wrap-Up & Reflection
What did you learn today about feelings and friendships? Share one thing you enjoyed or a compliment for a classmate.
Facilitate a wrap-up discussion. Ask students to reflect on what they learned and share a compliment for a peer. End the session with positive reinforcement.
Activity
Emotion Cards for SEL
These cards are designed to help students identify and express different emotions. Each card features a simple illustration of an emotion along with its label.
How to Use the Cards:
Group Distribution: Distribute one card per student during the interactive activity.
Sharing: Ask students to share a moment when they experienced the emotion on their card. Write these examples on the board if applicable.
Connecting Emotions: Discuss how these feelings make them behave in their friendships and what respectful responses to these emotions might look like.
Provide an open space for student responses to promote discussion about the emotions shown on the cards, encouraging students to draw or write about a time they felt that emotion.
These scenarios are designed to help you work on empathy, active listening, and considerate responses when faced with common friendship challenges. In each scenario, students will act out the situation in pairs or small groups. After the role-play, have a class discussion on the emotions involved, the choices made, and what could be done differently for an even better outcome.
Scenario 1: The Left-Out Game
Situation: Alex wants to play a game during recess, but some friends are already playing and they don’t invite Alex.
Prompt for Discussion/Role-Play:
How can Alex express his feelings in a kind way?
How can the other children respond to include Alex?
Scenario 2: The Unfair Share
Situation: Jamie brought snacks to class. When it comes time to share, one child takes more than their fair share.
Prompt for Discussion/Role-Play:
How might the group handle the situation to ensure everyone feels included and respected?
What could the child who took too much do to make things right?
Scenario 3: The New Friend
Situation: Taylor is new at school and feels shy about joining a group of classmates who are playing together.
Prompt for Discussion/Role-Play:
What are some ways the classmates can welcome Taylor?
How can Taylor show that they are open to making friends?
Tips for Role-Playing:
Listen to Each Other: Encourage everyone to speak and actively listen to their group members' ideas.
Express Emotions: Use words to describe feelings; what might Alex, Jamie, or Taylor be feeling in these scenarios?
Be Empathetic: Think about how you would feel in the same situation and act kindly.
After each role-play, gather the class and ask:
What did you learn about managing feelings and friendships?
What was one thing that helped solve the problem?
This activity not only practices role-play scenarios but also reinforces the skills needed to build strong, supportive friendships.
