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The Feeling Forecast

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Arrunna Galuh

Tier 1
For Schools

Lesson Plan

Predicting My Emotional Climate

Students will be able to identify and describe various emotional states using weather-related metaphors and understand how to track their emotions.

Understanding and identifying emotions is a crucial life skill that helps students navigate social interactions, manage stress, and build resilience. This lesson provides a relatable framework to make emotion identification engaging and accessible.

Audience

6th Grade Students

Time

55 minutes

Approach

Through discussion, activities, and a weather analogy, students will explore their emotional landscape.

Materials

  • Inner Weather Report Slide Deck, - Today's Emotional Barometer Warm-Up, - My Personal Feeling Forecast Worksheet, - Weathering Emotional Storms Discussion Guide, - Whiteboard or projector, and - Markers or pens

Prep

Review Materials

15 minutes

  • Review the Predicting My Emotional Climate Lesson Plan, Inner Weather Report Slide Deck, Today's Emotional Barometer Warm-Up, My Personal Feeling Forecast Worksheet, and Weathering Emotional Storms Discussion Guide.
  • Ensure projector/whiteboard is ready.
  • Print copies of the My Personal Feeling Forecast Worksheet for each student.

Step 1

Introduction & Warm-Up: Today's Emotional Barometer

10 minutes

  • Begin with the Today's Emotional Barometer Warm-Up activity.
  • Ask students: "What's the emotional weather like for you today? Are you feeling sunny, cloudy, a little stormy?"
  • Introduce the concept of emotions as 'inner weather' that can change throughout the day, just like actual weather.
  • Explain that understanding our inner weather helps us better predict and prepare for our reactions.

Step 2

Direct Instruction: Inner Weather Report

15 minutes

  • Present the Inner Weather Report Slide Deck.
  • Go through each slide, explaining different emotional states using the weather metaphors (sunny, cloudy, stormy, breezy, foggy, rainy, snowy).
  • Encourage students to connect personal experiences to these emotional weather patterns, asking questions like: "When have you felt a 'stormy' emotion? What did it feel like in your body?"

Step 3

Reactions To Feelings Worksheet

20 minutes

  • Introduce the My Personal Feeling Forecast Worksheet. Explain that students will map their own emotional weather patterns.
  • Allow students time to complete the worksheet individually. Circulate to provide support and answer questions.
  • After they have completed the worksheet, facilitate a class discussion using the Weathering Emotional Storms Discussion Guide. Focus on sharing strategies for managing different emotional states.
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Slide Deck

Your Inner Weather Report

What's the emotional forecast for YOU today?

Welcome students and introduce the idea of emotional weather.

What's Your Emotional Weather?

  • Just like the sky can be sunny, cloudy, or stormy, your feelings can change too!
  • Our 'emotional weather' describes what we're feeling inside.
  • Understanding it helps us know ourselves better and deal with changes.

Introduce the idea of emotions as weather patterns.

Your Emotions are Like Weather!

  • They change!
  • They affect how you feel and act.
  • You can learn to predict and understand them.

Introduce the idea of emotions as weather patterns.

How can we describe emotions using weather words?

  • Sunny: Happy, joyful, excited
  • Cloudy: Sad, worried, thoughtful
  • Stormy: Angry, frustrated, overwhelmed
  • Breezy: Calm, relaxed, peaceful

Ask students to share examples of how emotions relate to weather.

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Warm Up

Today's Emotional Barometer

Instructions: Think about how you're feeling right now. Which weather image best describes your current emotional state? You don't have to share with anyone unless you want to, but take a moment to really think about it.

Choose Your Emotional Weather:

  • ☀️ Sunny: Feeling happy, joyful, enthusiastic.


  • ☁️ Cloudy: Feeling a little down, thoughtful, or uncertain.


  • 🌧️ Rainy: Feeling sad, upset, or tearful.


  • ⚡ Stormy: Feeling angry, frustrated, or overwhelmed.


  • 🌬️ Breezy: Feeling calm, relaxed, or peaceful.


  • 🌫️ Foggy: Feeling confused, unclear, or a bit lost.


Reflect and Write (Optional):

  1. Which emotional weather best fits how you're feeling today and why?






  2. What might have caused this emotional weather for you?






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lenny

Worksheet

My Personal Feeling Forecast

Just like predicting the weather helps us decide what to wear or if we need an umbrella, understanding our emotions helps us figure out how we might react and what we need to do. Let's create your personal feeling forecast!

Part 1: Identifying My Current Emotional Climate

  1. What is the main emotion you are feeling right now? (e.g., Happy, Calm, Anxious, Excited, Tired, Frustrated)



  2. What 'weather' word best describes this emotion? (e.g., Sunny, Cloudy, Stormy, Breezy, Foggy, Rainy, Snowy)



  3. What are some physical signs in your body that tell you you're feeling this emotion? (e.g., smiling, fast heartbeat, tight shoulders, relaxed muscles, butterflies in stomach)



  4. What are some thoughts or ideas that are going through your mind while you're feeling this way?



Part 2: Forecasting My Emotional Shifts

Think about a time recently when your emotions changed. What happened? What did it feel like?

  1. Describe a situation where your emotional weather changed. (e.g., I started feeling sunny, then something happened and it became cloudy.)






  2. What caused the shift in your emotional weather? (e.g., A friend said something, I got a good grade, I felt confused by a task.)



  3. When your emotional weather changed, how did your body feel differently? How did your thoughts change?






Part 3: Preparing for My Forecast

Just like we prepare for a rainy day with an umbrella, what can you do when your emotional weather changes?

  1. If your emotional weather became 'stormy' (e.g., angry, frustrated), what are 1-2 healthy ways you could respond?






  2. If your emotional weather became 'cloudy' (e.g., sad, worried), what are 1-2 healthy ways you could respond?






  3. If your emotional weather became 'sunny' (e.g., happy, excited), how can you enjoy it and share that positive energy?






Challenge Question: Why is it helpful to be able to predict and understand your own emotional weather?

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Discussion

Weathering Emotional Storms: A Class Discussion

Objective: To encourage students to share and reflect on healthy strategies for managing challenging emotions, using the emotional weather analogy.

Instructions: Facilitate a class discussion using the prompts below. Encourage respectful sharing and active listening.

Discussion Prompts:

  1. Based on our discussion and your worksheet, what are some different "weather" words we can use to describe our emotions?



  2. Can anyone share a time when your emotional weather changed quickly? What happened?



  3. What are some healthy ways we can "weather a stormy" emotion (like anger or frustration)? Think about what helps you calm down or feel better.






  4. If someone else is experiencing "cloudy" or "rainy" emotional weather, how can we be a good friend and support them?






  5. Why is it important to know your own emotional forecast, even when it might be a bit stormy?



  6. What does it feel like when your emotional weather is "sunny"? How can we appreciate and share those positive feelings?






Follow-up Questions (as needed):

  • What are some signs that your emotional weather is about to change?
  • Is it always easy to know what emotion you are feeling? Why or why not?
  • Who can you talk to when you are having difficult emotional weather?
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