Lesson Plan
Playing with Empathy
Students will be able to identify various emotions in others and practice empathetic responses.
Understanding and responding to others' feelings is a crucial life skill that helps build stronger relationships and a more compassionate classroom community.
Audience
3rd Grade Class
Time
45 minutes
Approach
Through an interactive game and discussion, students will explore different emotions.
Materials
Whiteboard or projector, Markers or pens, Understanding Others' Feelings Slide Deck, How Do You Think I Feel? Warm-Up, and Empathy Bingo! Game
Prep
Teacher Preparation
15 minutes
- Review all generated materials: the Playing with Empathy Lesson Plan, Understanding Others' Feelings Slide Deck, Empathy Bingo! Game, and How Do You Think I Feel? Warm-Up.
- Print or prepare to display the How Do You Think I Feel? Warm-Up prompts.
- Prepare the Empathy Bingo! Game cards and emotion cards (if applicable, or simply prepare to describe scenarios).
- Ensure technology (projector/whiteboard) is ready for the slide deck.
Step 1
Introduction & Warm-Up
10 minutes
- Begin by engaging students with the How Do You Think I Feel? Warm-Up activity. Present scenarios or images and ask students to identify the emotion and explain why they think the person feels that way.
- Introduce the concept of empathy: 'Today, we're going to become emotion detectives and empathy heroes! We'll practice understanding how others feel and how we can show them we care.'
- Use the first few slides of the Understanding Others' Feelings Slide Deck to set the stage and define empathy.
Step 2
Understanding Emotions
15 minutes
- Continue with the Understanding Others' Feelings Slide Deck, discussing different emotions, facial expressions, and body language.
- Ask open-ended questions: 'What does it look like when someone is happy/sad/angry/scared?' 'How does your body feel when you experience these emotions?'
- Encourage students to share examples (without naming specific people) of times they've felt these emotions or seen others feel them.
Step 3
Empathy Bingo! Game
15 minutes
- Introduce the Empathy Bingo! Game.
- Explain the rules: Call out emotion scenarios or show emotion cards. Students mark off the emotion on their bingo cards. When they get bingo, they must share an empathetic response to one of the emotions they identified.
- Facilitate the game, providing support and encouraging thoughtful responses.
- After the game, briefly discuss key takeaways: 'What did you learn about identifying emotions and showing empathy today?'
Step 4
Wrap-Up
5 minutes
- Conclude by reinforcing the importance of empathy in daily interactions.
- Ask students to commit to practicing empathy in their classroom and at home.
- Assign a quick reflection or exit ticket (if desired, not included in materials) on one thing they learned about empathy.
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Slide Deck
Welcome, Emotion Detectives!
Today, we're going to learn about feelings!
- How do we know how others feel?
- Why is it important to understand their feelings?
Greet students and start with a brief recap of the warm-up activity. Explain that today's lesson is about understanding emotions.
What is Empathy?
Empathy is when you understand and share the feelings of another person.
It's like putting yourself in someone else's shoes!
Why is this important?
Introduce the concept of empathy. Use simple language and relatable examples. Ask students if they've heard the word before.
Faces Tell a Story
Our faces often show how we're feeling.
- Happy face?
- Sad face?
- Angry face?
- Scared face?
Discuss how we show emotions through our faces. Ask students to make different emotion faces.
Body Language Speaks Too
Our bodies also give clues about our emotions.
- How does a happy person stand?
- How does a sad person sit?
- What about an angry person?
Talk about body language. Ask students to show happy body language, sad body language, etc.
Let's Practice!
Look at these situations. How do you think the person feels? What could you say or do to show empathy?
Scenario 1: Your friend drops their ice cream cone.
Scenario 2: Someone wins a game and another person loses.
Provide scenarios and ask students to identify the emotion and suggest an empathetic response. Encourage discussion.
Time for Empathy Bingo!
Now that we've practiced, let's play a game to become even better emotion detectives and empathy heroes!
Transition to the Empathy Bingo! game. Explain that the game will help them practice these skills.
Be an Empathy Hero!
Remember, understanding how others feel and showing you care makes the world a kinder place.
Who will be an empathy hero today?
Conclude by reinforcing the main message about empathy. Encourage students to use their new skills.
Game
Empathy Bingo!
Objective: Practice identifying emotions and responding with empathy.
Materials:
- Empathy Bingo cards (create a 3x3 or 4x4 grid with different emotions listed in each square, e.g., Happy, Sad, Angry, Surprised, Confused, Proud, Worried, Excited, Frustrated, Calm, Shy, Brave, Lonely, Grateful, Jealous)
- Markers or small objects to cover squares
- Emotion Scenario Cards (optional, or simply read scenarios aloud)
How to Play:
- Distribute Cards: Give each student an Empathy Bingo card and a handful of markers.
- Scenario Time: The teacher will read an emotion scenario (or show an emotion card). Students must identify the main emotion expressed in the scenario.
- Cover Your Emotion: If a student has that emotion on their Bingo card, they cover the square with a marker.
- Bingo! The first student to get three (or four, depending on card size) in a row (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally) shouts "Bingo!"
- Show Empathy: When a student calls "Bingo!", they must choose one of the emotions they covered on their card and describe an empathetic response to that emotion. For example, if they covered "Sad," they might say, "If my friend was sad because they lost their toy, I could give them a hug and ask if they want to talk about it."
- Continue Playing: Clear the cards and play another round, or continue until multiple students get Bingo.
Emotion Scenario Examples:
- Scenario 1: A student accidentally knocks over another student's block tower. The student whose tower fell down has tears in their eyes.
- Scenario 2: Your classmate just got a perfect score on a math test and is beaming.
- Scenario 3: A friend tells you they are scared to go to the doctor for a shot.
- Scenario 4: Someone in class looks really confused trying to solve a puzzle.
- Scenario 5: You see a new student sitting alone at lunch, looking down at their plate.
- Scenario 6: A teammate misses the winning goal in a soccer game and looks very upset.
- Scenario 7: Your teacher announces a surprise field trip to the zoo, and everyone starts cheering loudly.
- Scenario 8: A friend shares that they worked really hard on a drawing and are very proud of it.
- Scenario 9: You see someone frowning and stomping their foot because they can't get their shoelaces tied.
Warm Up
How Do You Think I Feel? Warm-Up
Objective: To activate prior knowledge about emotions and get students thinking about identifying feelings in others.
Instructions:
- Present the following scenarios or display images showing various emotions (e.g., happy, sad, angry, surprised, confused, worried).
- For each scenario/image, ask students:
- "How do you think this person feels?"
- "What clues make you think that?" (e.g., facial expression, body language, situation)
- "What could you say or do if you saw someone feeling this way?"
Scenarios/Prompts:
- Prompt 1: A child just got a new puppy and is running around with a big smile.
- Prompt 2: A student's favorite crayon just broke in half during an art project.
- Prompt 3: Someone is sitting alone, holding their stomach and looking down.
- Prompt 4: Your friend's team just won the championship, and they are jumping up and down with their teammates.
- Prompt 5: A classmate looks puzzled while trying to read a difficult book.