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What’s Your Feelings Forecast?

For Schools

Lesson Plan

Feelings Forecast Lesson Plan

Students will use a weather metaphor to identify and articulate their emotions, track their daily “Emotion Weather,” and practice empathy by listening to classmates’ emotional forecasts.

Building emotional literacy helps students recognize and express feelings in a supportive setting and fosters a caring classroom community by teaching empathy.

Audience

3rd Grade Class

Time

40 minutes

Approach

Interactive discussion with metaphor and personal tracking

Materials

Weather of Emotions Slides, Morning Circle Feelings Chat, and Emotion Weather Tracker

Prep

Prepare Materials

10 minutes

Step 1

Morning Circle Check-In

5 minutes

  • Gather students in a circle and explain the “Feelings Forecast” activity
  • Model your own emotion using a weather term (e.g., “I feel sunny today because…”)
  • Invite volunteers to share their current “emotion weather” briefly

Step 2

Slide Presentation

10 minutes

  • Display the Weather of Emotions Slides
  • Discuss key weather–emotion pairings (e.g., cloudy = sad, stormy = angry)
  • Ask comprehension questions: “What weather matches ‘excited’? Why?”

Step 3

Emotion Weather Tracker Activity

15 minutes

  • Distribute the Emotion Weather Tracker
  • Instruct students to draw or circle today’s weather icon and write a sentence about why they chose it
  • Circulate and support students in labeling and expressing their feelings

Step 4

Sharing and Empathy Practice

5 minutes

  • Invite a few students to share their tracker entries with the class
  • Encourage classmates to respond with empathetic statements (e.g., “I understand because…”)
  • Highlight respectful listening and positive feedback

Step 5

Closing Reflection

5 minutes

  • Summarize how identifying emotions helps us understand ourselves and each other
  • Ask: “How might we check our emotion weather each morning?”
  • Reinforce that any feeling is valid and that classmates are there to support each other
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Slide Deck

Weather of Emotions

What’s Your Feelings Forecast?

Let’s explore how our emotions can feel like sunny, stormy, or cloudy days!

Welcome students and introduce the slide deck. Explain that today we’ll learn how our feelings can be like weather: ever-changing and varied.

Lesson Objectives

By the end of this lesson, students will:

• Identify emotions using weather words
• Match common feelings to weather icons
• Prepare to track their daily “Emotion Weather”

Read each objective aloud. Encourage students to listen for how we’ll use weather words to talk about feelings.

What is Emotion Weather?

• Just like weather, our feelings can change throughout the day.
• We’ll use weather words (sunny, cloudy, stormy, etc.) to describe our emotions.
• This helps us notice and share how we feel.

Explain the metaphor: weather changes just like our moods. Use a personal example (e.g., “This morning I felt like a rainbow because I was excited!”).

Sunny ☀️ & Cloudy ☁️

Sunny = happy, joyful, content

Cloudy = sad, gloomy, low energy

Point to each icon. Ask: “When do you feel ‘sunny’? What kinds of thoughts go with ‘cloudy’?”

Stormy ⛈️ & Windy 🌬️

Stormy = angry, frustrated, upset

Windy = anxious, jittery, restless

Highlight differences: storms are strong feelings; wind can be nervous energy. Invite examples.

Foggy 🌫️ & Rainbow 🌈

Foggy = confused, unsure, mixed up

Rainbow = hopeful, calm, peaceful

Explain foggy and rainbow. Ask students when they might feel these.

Discussion Questions

• Which weather matches “excited”? Why?
• Can you think of a time you felt ‘stormy’ or ‘rainbow’?
• How does naming your emotion help you?

Display this slide and have students turn to a partner or share aloud. Guide a brief class discussion.

Next: Track Your Emotion Weather

• You’ll get a worksheet with weather icons
• Draw or circle how you feel today
• Write one sentence explaining your choice

Let’s get ready to share our Feelings Forecast!

Transition into the Emotion Weather Tracker activity. Explain how students will draw or circle today’s weather and write about it.

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Discussion

Morning Circle Feelings Chat

Duration: 5 minutes
Purpose: Help students name and share their current emotions using weather words in a safe, respectful space.

Setup & Guidelines

  1. Arrange chairs in a circle so everyone can see each other.
  2. Explain the “Feelings Forecast” check-in: each student shares one weather word and one reason.
  3. Emphasize respectful listening:
    • No interruptions
    • Use kind, supportive language
    • Keep shares brief (1–2 sentences)

Discussion Prompts

Prompt 1 (Round-Robin Share):
“I feel [weather] today because [reason].”
Follow-ups (as needed):

  • “Can you tell us more about that feeling?”
  • “What might help you if you’re feeling ‘stormy’?”







Prompt 2 (Connection):
“Has anyone ever felt like today’s weather? What did you do to feel better or hold onto the ‘sunshine’?”







Empathy Practice

  • After each share, classmates can respond with:
    • “I understand because…”
    • “That reminds me of a time I felt…”
  • Teacher models one empathetic response after the first volunteer.

Closing Reflection (1–2 minutes)

  • Ask: “How might we check our emotion weather each morning?”
  • Reinforce: “All feelings are okay, and we support each other.”
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Worksheet

Emotion Weather Tracker

Instructions:

  1. Look at the weather icons below.
  2. Draw a circle around the icon that shows how you feel today.

☀️ Sunny

☁️ Cloudy

⛈️ Stormy

🌬️ Windy

🌫️ Foggy

🌈 Rainbow

Write one sentence explaining why you chose this icon:






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