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What's Your Mood Meter Saying Today?

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Lesson Plan

Mood Meter Mastery Plan

Students will be able to identify and name at least three different emotions and express them using a simple mood scale, thereby building their emotional vocabulary and self-awareness.

Understanding and expressing feelings is a fundamental life skill that helps students navigate social situations, manage stress, and build healthy relationships. This lesson provides a safe and structured way for 4th graders to explore their inner emotional world.

Audience

4th Grade Students

Time

45 minutes

Approach

Interactive discussion, visual aids, and a hands-on activity will guide students.

Materials

Whiteboard or projector, Decoding Our Emotions (Slide Deck), Markers or pens, Interactive Mood Meter Check-in (Activity), My Feeling Snapshot Journal (Worksheet), and Sharing Our Emotional Rainbow (Discussion)

Prep

Prepare Materials

15 minutes

Step 1

Warm-up: How Are You Feeling?

5 minutes

  • Begin by asking students, "How are you feeling right now?" and encourage them to think of one word to describe their current emotion.
  • Explain that sometimes it's hard to put a name to our feelings, and that's okay. Today, we'll learn a tool to help us.
  • Transition to the slide deck.

Step 2

Introducing the Mood Meter

10 minutes

  • Use the Decoding Our Emotions (Slide Deck) to introduce the concept of a mood meter.
  • Explain the different zones (e.g., Red: unpleasant/high energy, Blue: unpleasant/low energy, Green: pleasant/low energy, Yellow: pleasant/high energy – adjust as needed for specific mood meter models).
  • Discuss examples of feelings that fit into each zone, emphasizing that all feelings are valid.
  • Ask students to share a time they felt an emotion from each zone (without going into too much detail).

Step 3

Interactive Mood Meter Check-in

15 minutes

  • Distribute the Interactive Mood Meter Check-in (Activity).
  • Guide students through the activity, allowing them to identify where they are on the mood meter and explain why.
  • Encourage students to think about what might have caused them to feel that way and what they might need.
  • Circulate and provide support and encouragement. Emphasize that there are no right or wrong answers.

Step 4

My Feeling Snapshot Journal

10 minutes

  • Distribute the My Feeling Snapshot Journal (Worksheet).
  • Instruct students to choose one feeling from their Mood Meter Check-in and write a short reflection in their journal.
  • Prompts could include: "What made you feel this way?", "What does this feeling feel like in your body?", "What helps you when you feel this way?"

Step 5

Sharing Our Emotional Rainbow

5 minutes

  • Facilitate the Sharing Our Emotional Rainbow (Discussion).
  • Invite students to share (if comfortable) one thing they wrote in their journal or one feeling they identified during the activity.
  • Remind students that emotions are a normal part of life and that recognizing them is the first step to understanding and managing them.
  • Conclude by reiterating the importance of checking in with their mood meter daily.
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Slide Deck

What's Your Mood Meter Saying Today?

How do you feel right now?
Why is it important to know how we feel?

Welcome students and introduce the idea of feelings and why understanding them is important. Ask what feelings they know.

Meet the Mood Meter!

A tool to help us understand our feelings.
It helps us put a name to what we feel.

Introduce the Mood Meter as a tool to help us understand our feelings. Explain that it helps us name what we feel.

The Red Zone: High Energy, Unpleasant Feelings

When you feel:

  • Angry
  • Frustrated
  • Scared (sometimes!)
  • Excited (when it's too much!)

Explain the Red Zone: unpleasant feelings with high energy. Give examples like angry, frustrated, excited (if it's overwhelming). Emphasize that all feelings are okay.

The Blue Zone: Low Energy, Unpleasant Feelings

When you feel:

  • Sad
  • Tired
  • Bored
  • Disappointed

Explain the Blue Zone: unpleasant feelings with low energy. Give examples like sad, tired, bored, disappointed. Acknowledge these feelings are normal.

The Green Zone: Low Energy, Pleasant Feelings

When you feel:

  • Calm
  • Happy
  • Content
  • Relaxed

Explain the Green Zone: pleasant feelings with low energy. Give examples like calm, happy, content, relaxed. Highlight these are often comfortable feelings.

The Yellow Zone: High Energy, Pleasant Feelings

When you feel:

  • Excited (good kind!)
  • Joyful
  • Surprised
  • Focused (on something fun!)

Explain the Yellow Zone: pleasant feelings with high energy. Give examples like excited, joyful, surprised, focused (when highly engaged).

All Feelings Are Welcome!

Every zone is a part of being human.
How can the Mood Meter help us understand ourselves better?

Review all zones and ask students to think about how they might feel in each. Reiterate that no zone is "bad."

Your Turn: Check Your Mood!

Let's use our Mood Meter skills!
We will do an activity to practice identifying our feelings.

Transition to the activity. Explain that they will now practice using the Mood Meter themselves.

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Activity

Interactive Mood Meter Check-in

Name: _________________________ Date: _____________

Instructions: Look at the mood meter below. Think about how you are feeling right now. Color in the part of the mood meter that matches your current feeling. Then, answer the questions below.

The Mood Meter

Low EnergyHigh Energy
Unpleasant FeelingsBlue Zone
(Sad, Tired, Bored, Disappointed)		Red Zone
(Angry, Frustrated, Scared, Overly Excited)
Pleasant FeelingsGreen Zone
(Calm, Happy, Content, Relaxed)		Yellow Zone
(Joyful, Excited, Focused, Surprised)

1. Which zone are you in right now?



2. What one word best describes your feeling in that zone?



3. What do you think made you feel this way today?






4. What might you need right now to help you with your feeling (e.g., a quiet moment, a drink of water, to share with a friend, to move your body, to focus on something else)?






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Worksheet

My Feeling Snapshot Journal

Name: _________________________ Date: _____________

Instructions: Choose one feeling you identified today using the mood meter. Write about that feeling below. Think about what it felt like and what might have caused it.

My Feeling Today

1. What feeling did you choose to write about?



2. What zone on the Mood Meter does this feeling belong to?



3. What made you feel this way? Try to describe the situation or event.











4. What does this feeling feel like in your body? (e.g., butterflies in your stomach, tight shoulders, a smile on your face, a buzzing energy)











5. What is one thing that helps you when you feel this way, or what do you think would help you?











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Discussion

Sharing Our Emotional Rainbow

Instructions: We've explored our feelings using the Mood Meter and reflected in our journals. Now, let's share some of our discoveries as a class. Remember to be respectful of everyone's feelings and experiences.

Discussion Prompts:

  1. Who would like to share one feeling they identified on their Mood Meter today?

    • Follow-up: Can you tell us which zone that feeling belongs to?

  2. What is something new you learned about your own feelings today?

    • Follow-up: Was there a feeling you didn't realize fit into a certain zone?

  3. Does anyone want to share something they wrote in their My Feeling Snapshot Journal (Worksheet) about what helps them when they feel a certain way?

    • Follow-up: How might sharing our feelings with others help us?

  4. Why do you think it's important to be able to identify and talk about our feelings?

    • Follow-up: How can understanding our feelings help us in school, with friends, or at home?

  5. Looking at the Mood Meter, can you think of a time when you moved from one zone to another in a short period? What happened?

    • Follow-up: What strategies could we use to move from an "unpleasant" zone to a "pleasant" one, or to manage our energy when we are in a "high energy" zone?

Wrap-up:

  • Remind students that all feelings are valid, and the Mood Meter is a tool to help them understand and eventually manage their emotions.
  • Encourage them to continue checking in with their own mood meter throughout the day and week.
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