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What's the Clue?

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Lesson Plan

Social Clues Crew Lesson Plan

Students will learn to identify common social cues like facial expressions and body language to understand how others are feeling.

Understanding social cues helps children build empathy, improve communication, and navigate social situations more successfully, leading to a more harmonious classroom and playground.

Audience

Kindergarten

Time

30 minutes

Approach

Interactive discussion and activity.

Materials

Social Clues Crew Slide Deck, and Feeling Faces Worksheet

Prep

Materials Preparation

10 minutes

Step 1

Warm-up: What Do You See?

5 minutes

  • Teacher: "Good morning, Social Detectives! Today we're going to learn about being 'Social Detectives' and finding clues about how people feel. Who can tell me what a detective does?" (Allow a few student responses: look for clues, solve mysteries).
  • Teacher: "That's right! Detectives look for clues. Today, our clues will be about feelings!"

Step 2

Introduction to Social Cues

10 minutes

  • Teacher: "We can learn how people are feeling by looking at their faces and how they hold their bodies. These are called 'social clues' or 'social cues'. Let's look at some examples on our slides!" (Present Social Clues Crew Slide Deck slides 1-5, discussing each emotion and its corresponding facial expression/body language).
  • Teacher: "When someone is smiling with their eyes crinkled, how do you think they feel?" (Happy!) "What about if their eyebrows are low and their mouth is frowning?" (Sad/Mad!)

Step 3

Activity: Feeling Faces Worksheet

10 minutes

  • Teacher: "Now it's your turn to be super Social Detectives! I have a special worksheet for you called the Feeling Faces Worksheet. On this worksheet, you'll see different faces. Your job is to guess how each face is feeling and maybe draw an example of that feeling on your own face!" (Distribute Feeling Faces Worksheet and crayons/markers).
  • Teacher: "Walk around and help students identify the emotions and encourage them to draw or color in the faces to show how they think the person feels. Engage with students: 'Why do you think this face is happy?' or 'What makes you feel sad like this?'"

Step 4

Cool-down: Share and Reflect

5 minutes

  • Teacher: "Time to put down our detective tools for a moment. Who would like to share one of their 'feeling faces' from their worksheet and tell us how they knew that feeling?" (Allow 2-3 students to share).
  • Teacher: "Great job, Social Detectives! Remember, looking at faces and bodies helps us understand our friends better. Keep practicing being a Social Clues Crew everywhere you go!"
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Slide Deck

What's the Clue?

Are you ready to be a Social Detective?

Welcome students and introduce the idea of being a 'social detective.' Ask them what a detective does (looks for clues, solves mysteries). Explain that today they will be looking for clues about feelings.

Social Clues: Faces and Bodies

How can we tell how someone is feeling?

  • Look at their face!
  • Look at their body!

Explain that social clues are things we notice about people, like their faces and bodies, that tell us how they might be feeling. Emphasize 'looking closely'.

Feeling Happy!

What does a happy face look like?

  • Smiling mouth
  • Happy eyes

What does a happy body do?

Show this slide and ask students to make a happy face. Discuss what a happy face looks like (smiling mouth, crinkly eyes) and what happy body language might be (jumping, dancing).

Feeling Sad...

What does a sad face look like?

  • Frowning mouth
  • Sometimes tears

What does a sad body do?

Show this slide and ask students to make a sad face. Discuss what a sad face looks like (frowning mouth, tears) and what sad body language might be (slumped shoulders, head down).

Feeling Angry!

What does an angry face look like?

  • Frowning
  • Eyebrows down
  • Tight lips

What does an angry body do?

Show this slide and ask students to make an angry face. Discuss what an angry face looks like (frowning, eyebrows down, tight lips) and what angry body language might be (crossed arms, stomping).

Practice Time: What's the Feeling?

Let's be Social Detectives!

  • Look at the face.
  • Look at the body.
  • What's the clue?

This is a prompt for the teacher to show pictures of various emotions (not provided in the slide deck itself, but implied as part of the activity). Encourage students to guess the feeling and explain their clues. Guide them toward the Feeling Faces Worksheet.

You're a Social Clues Crew!

Great job, Social Detectives!

  • We looked for clues!
  • We learned about feelings!
  • We can help our friends by understanding how they feel!

Review that looking for clues helps us understand feelings. Encourage them to use these detective skills daily. Remind them about the worksheet they are about to complete.

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Worksheet

Feeling Faces: What's the Clue?

Social Detective! Look at each face. How do you think they are feeling? Draw or color a clue to show how you know!


1. How is this face feeling?

(Image of a happy face - Teacher to provide or draw)








2. How is this face feeling?

(Image of a sad face - Teacher to provide or draw)








3. How is this face feeling?

(Image of an angry face - Teacher to provide or draw)








4. How is this face feeling?

(Image of a surprised face - Teacher to provide or draw)








5. Draw a face showing how you feel right now!













What clue helps you know how you feel?




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