Lesson Plan
Your Feelings, Your Superpowers!
Students will be able to identify and name various emotions in themselves and others, and understand that all feelings are okay.
Understanding emotions is the first step to managing them. This lesson helps students build self-awareness, which is crucial for healthy relationships and personal well-being. By recognizing and naming feelings, students gain a valuable tool for navigating their inner world.
Audience
3rd Grade Students
Time
40 minutes
Approach
Interactive discussion, visual aids, and a hands-on activity.
Prep
Teacher Preparation
15 minutes
- Review the SEL Introduction Slides and corresponding Teacher Script.
- Print and cut out the Emotion Charades Activity Cards.
- Print enough copies of the My Emotion Meter Worksheet for each student.
- Prepare the Feeling Faces Warm-Up prompt on the board or a slide.
- Prepare the Emotional Check-Out Cool-Down prompt.
Step 1
Warm-Up: Feeling Faces
5 minutes
- Begin with the Feeling Faces Warm-Up to get students thinking about emotions.
- Ask students to share an emotion and why they feel that way today (briefly).
Step 2
Introduction to SEL
10 minutes
- Use the SEL Introduction Slides to introduce SEL and the concept of emotions.
- Follow the Teacher Script for guiding the discussion.
- Emphasize that all feelings are normal and okay.
Step 3
Emotion Charades Activity
15 minutes
- Explain the Emotion Charades Activity rules.
- Divide students into small groups or pairs.
- Distribute the Emotion Charades Activity Cards and have students act out emotions for their group to guess.
- Circulate to support and observe student engagement.
Step 4
Reflection and Wrap-Up
5 minutes
- Bring the class back together.
- Facilitate a brief discussion using prompts from the Teacher Script about what they learned and how it felt to identify emotions.
Step 5
Cool-Down: Emotional Check-Out
5 minutes
- Distribute the My Emotion Meter Worksheet and explain the activity.
- Conclude the lesson with the Emotional Check-Out Cool-Down, asking students to reflect on their current emotional state and how they can use what they learned.
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Slide Deck
Your Feelings, Your Superpowers!
Welcome to Social-Emotional Learning!
Welcome students and set a positive tone. Briefly explain what SEL stands for. Ask students to think about what 'feelings' are.
What are Emotions?
Emotions are feelings we have inside us.
They tell us how we're doing and what we need.
Examples: Happy, Sad, Mad, Scared, Surprised, Calm
Introduce the idea that understanding our feelings is a superpower. Ask: 'Why is it important to know how you feel?'
All Feelings Are Okay!
It's normal to feel many different emotions.
Sometimes we feel one thing, sometimes many!
There are no 'good' or 'bad' feelings, just feelings.
What matters is how we respond to our feelings.
Discuss how feelings can look different on the outside, and how we all experience a range of emotions. Emphasize that all feelings are okay.
Building Our Superpowers: Self-Awareness
Self-awareness is knowing how you feel and why you feel that way.
It's like having a special radar for your inner world!
When you know your feelings, you can choose how to act.
Introduce the concept of 'self-awareness' as the first step in SEL. Explain that knowing your own feelings is the start of understanding yourself.
Let's Practice Our Feeling Superpowers!
We're going to play a game to help us recognize emotions.
Get ready to show off your acting skills and guess some feelings!
Transition to the activity. Explain that they will practice identifying emotions through charades.
Remember Your Superpower!
You have the superpower to know your own feelings!
Keep practicing recognizing feelings in yourself and others.
It helps us be good friends and understand the world around us.
Conclude by reiterating the importance of recognizing emotions. Ask students to think about one new emotion they learned about today.
Script
Teacher Script: Your Feelings, Your Superpowers!
Warm-Up: Feeling Faces (5 minutes)
"Good morning/afternoon, everyone! To start our day, I want you to take a moment and think about how you are feeling right now. Look at the Feeling Faces Warm-Up on the board. Can you show me with a face, a gesture, or even just by pointing to a face on the board, how you feel at this moment?"
"Great! Thank you for sharing. It's perfectly normal to feel a variety of emotions, and we'll be talking a lot about that today."
Introduction to SEL (10 minutes)
"(Transition to SEL Introduction Slides - Slide 1: Your Feelings, Your Superpowers!)"
"Today, we're going to embark on an exciting journey into something called Social-Emotional Learning, or SEL for short! It sounds like a big fancy word, but it's really about learning how to understand ourselves and others better. And guess what? Your feelings are your very own superpowers!"
"(Transition to SEL Introduction Slides - Slide 2: What are Emotions?)"
"So, what are emotions? Emotions are those amazing feelings we have inside us. They are like little messages that tell us how we're doing, what we like, what we don't like, and what we might need. Can anyone give me an example of a feeling?"
"Excellent examples! We have feelings like happy, sad, mad, scared, surprised, and even calm. Think about when you felt really happy. What made you feel that way? What about when you felt a little sad?"
"(Transition to SEL Introduction Slides - Slide 3: All Feelings Are Okay!)"
"Now, this is super important: All feelings are okay! There are no 'good' or 'bad' feelings. Every emotion we experience is a natural part of being human. It's okay to feel sad, and it's okay to feel angry. What matters most is how we respond to our feelings. How we show them, and what we do when we feel them."
"(Transition to SEL Introduction Slides - Slide 4: Building Our Superpowers: Self-Awareness)"
"One of the first superpowers we're going to build is called Self-Awareness. This means knowing how you feel and understanding why you feel that way. It's like having a special radar for your inner world! When you know your feelings, you can make better choices about how to act and how to interact with others."
Emotion Charades Activity (15 minutes)
"(Transition to SEL Introduction Slides - Slide 5: Let's Practice Our Feeling Superpowers!)"
"Alright, superheroes! It's time to put our self-awareness superpower to the test! We're going to play a game called Emotion Charades. I'm going to divide you into small groups/pairs, and each group will get some Emotion Charades Activity Cards. On each card, there's an emotion. Your job is to act out the emotion without speaking, and your group members will guess what emotion you are showing. Remember, it's about recognizing how emotions look and feel!"
"(Hand out cards, allow students to play, circulate and observe, provide gentle guidance as needed.)"
Reflection and Wrap-Up (5 minutes)
"(Bring the class back together.)"
"Wow, you all did a fantastic job with Emotion Charades! That was a super way to practice identifying feelings. Can anyone share something they noticed about how different emotions looked when acted out?"
"How did it feel to try and guess the emotions?"
"Great observations! It shows us how important it is to pay attention to both our own feelings and the feelings of others."
Cool-Down: Emotional Check-Out (5 minutes)
"(Transition to SEL Introduction Slides - Slide 6: Remember Your Superpower!)"
"To finish up, I have a My Emotion Meter Worksheet for you. On it, you'll see a meter where you can color in how you're feeling right now. Think about what we learned today and how you can use your new self-awareness superpower."
"Now, for our Emotional Check-Out Cool-Down, I want you to think about one emotion you are feeling right now and one way you can use your superpower to either keep feeling that way (if it's a comfortable feeling) or help yourself if it's an uncomfortable feeling. You can write it on your worksheet or just think about it quietly."
"Thank you all for an amazing lesson today on your feelings and superpowers! I hope you continue to use your self-awareness superpower every day."
Warm Up
Feeling Faces Warm-Up
Instructions: Look at the faces below. Point to the face that best shows how you are feeling right now. Or, draw your own feeling face!
(Teacher: Draw or project simple emoji-like faces showing a range of emotions: happy, sad, surprised, sleepy, calm, silly, frustrated, excited.)
Activity
Emotion Charades Activity
Objective: To practice recognizing and expressing different emotions through non-verbal communication.
Materials: Cut-out Emotion Charades Activity Cards (see below)
Instructions:
- Divide into small groups or pairs.
- One person picks an Emotion Charades Activity Card but does not show it to their group.
- That person acts out the emotion written on the card using only their face and body. No talking!
- The other group members guess the emotion.
- Once guessed correctly, a new person takes a turn.
Emotion Charades Activity Cards
(Teacher: Print and cut these out. Each card should have one emotion.)
- Happy
- Sad
- Angry
- Scared
- Surprised
- Confused
- Excited
- Calm
- Frustrated
- Proud
- Shy
- Silly
- Bored
- Worried
- Curious
- Disappointed
- Embarrassed
- Grateful
Worksheet
My Emotion Meter
Name: _____________________________
Date: ______________________________
Part 1: How Am I Feeling Right Now?
Color in the meter to show how you are feeling. The bottom is "Not many feelings," and the top is "Lots of feelings!" Then, circle the face that best matches your main feeling.
^ Lots of feelings!
|
|
|
|
|
v Not many feelings
(Teacher: Provide space for students to color/draw a simple emotion meter scale, and 3-5 emoji-style faces representing happy, calm, worried, excited, etc., for them to circle.)
My main feeling right now is: _________________________________
Part 2: Reflect and Use Your Superpower!
-
What is one emotion you are feeling right now?
-
What is one way you can use your new "feelings superpower" to either keep feeling that way (if it's comfortable) or help yourself if it's an uncomfortable feeling?
Cool Down
Emotional Check-Out Cool-Down
Instructions: Think about how you are feeling right now, after our lesson. On your My Emotion Meter Worksheet, either write or think about the answers to these questions:
-
What is one emotion you are feeling right now?
-
What is one way you can use your new