Lesson 9: Emotions

Essential Question: How do I control my emotions?

Click for Lesson 9 (PDF)

Lesson Overview

1. Brain Warmup

2. Read Aloud

3. Modeling Activity

4. Group Activity

6. Brain Cooldown

Purpose:

- By providing students with multiple coping strategies, students will be able to identify which strategies to use when experiencing a strong emotion.

Vocabulary:

- common emotions (happy, sad, mad, tired, frustrated, surprised)

- coping strategies

- self-talk

Additional Book

Stick and Stone by Beth Ferry and Tom Lichtenheld

- This read aloud introduces an emotion Stone is feeling called alone. The story follows Stone on his journey through recognizing his emotion and coping with it.

Click the book for the read aloud.

Additional Lesson

Activities

Make a "Mood Meter" Sign:

- On Education.com is a lesson plan providing teachers with the materials create and implement a lesson on how to create an individual mood meter. Like the ‘Classroom Mood Meter’, this allows students to share how they are feeling that day.

Brain Warmup: Classroom Mood Meter

Purpose: This activity will introduce zones of regulations through the classroom mood meter on the wall. The emotions or feelings will be categorized by the zone of regulation colors and students have to identify what mood he or she is feeling.

Materials: paper mood meter, clothes pins (write student names on clothes pins)

Time: 5 minutes

Procedure:

Students will sit on the carpet or open floor space.
Introduce the ‘Classroom Mood Meter’. The mood meter will allow for students to identify and share their mood they are currently feeling.
Explain the 4 different colors on the mood meter.
1. Red (located at the top of the mood meter) represents emotions like anger and frustration.
2. Yellow (located under red on the mood meter) represents emotions like stress, anxious, excited, silly, and nervous.
3. Green (located under yellow on the mood meter) represents emotions like happy, focused, content, and ready to learn behaviors.
4. Blue (located at the bottom of the mood meter) represents emotions like sad, tired, sick, and bored.
After introducing and explain the colors on the mood meter, allow time for students to grab the clothes pin with their name on to place on the ‘Classroom Mood Meter’.
Students will clip the clothes pin on the side of the mood meter that matches with their current mood.
1. Example: if a student is feeling happy, he or she will place their clothes pin in the green part of the mood meter.

Read Aloud: Millie Fierce by Jane Manning

Before reading, ask students “what are things you do when you feel a strong emotion like anger?” Allow students time to think and ask for volunteers to share.

This read aloud focuses on a new emotion, fierce. The main character, Millie, demonstrates behaviors that are not appropriate for the public and demonstrates strategies that are not helping her cope with her strong emotion. The following questions can be used to help guide the discussion.

What does fierce mean?
What behaviors did Millie demonstrate when she felt fierce?
What could Millie have done to help her calm her body when she felt fierce?

Click for Read Aloud of the Story

Click for 'Classroom Mood Meter

Additional Resources

Zone of Regulation:

- This article describes the zone of regulations and the provides descriptions about each color within the zones.

Childhood 101:

- This article provides information on how to teach students coping skills to use when feeling a strong emotion. Included in this article are posters like '5 Steps for Managing Big Emotions' and '9 Calm Down Ideas for Kids'.

Wheel of Coping Strategies:

- This article describes in more detail how to make a 'Wheel of Coping' strategies. The article includes visuals of an example of a coping wheel.

5 Steps to Help Kids Learn to Control Their Emotions:

- This article published by Psychology Today provides tips and explanations on how to help students learn to control their emotions. The article includes five tips to help students control their emotions.

Modeling Activity: Managing Big Emotions

Purpose: Using the ‘5 Steps to Managing Big Emotions’ created and provided by Childhood 101, students can identify and practice using strategies to help manage their strong emotions.

Materials: 5 Steps to Managing Big Emotions,

Time: 10 to 15 minutes

Procedure:

Students will sit on the carpet or open floor space facing the front board or the teacher.
Use a technology board to project the online poster of the ‘5 Steps to Managing Big Emotions’ or bring the poster out. Introduce and discuss each step, along with practicing the strategy as a group.
Step 1: Remind myself that it is never okay to hurt others.
1. Explain to the students the importance of keeping one another safe when feeling a strong emotion.
2. Ask students, “how can we remind ourselves not to hurt others?” Allow students time to brainstorm some strategies. Ask for volunteers to share and write suggested strategies on a white board or piece of paper. An example of a strategy might be to use self-talk. Self-talk is when you are talking to yourself usually in your head and no one else will hear you. Using self-talk would might look like this… I would tell myself, “self it is not okay to hurt others using my body or words. I need to keep others and myself safe.”
Step 2: Take 3 deep breaths or count slowly to 10.
1. Explain to the students the importance of breathing. Breathing helps to calm your body down and allows you to focus on your emotion.
2. Practice taking 3 deep breaths together. Breathe in slowly and breathe out slowly.
3. Practice counting to 10 slowly. Model the pace of counting slowly.
Step 3: Use my words to say how I feel and what I wish would happen.
1. Explain to the students the importance of using words to explain the strong emotion.
2. Refer to the ‘I feel’ statements (I feel ___ when ___ because ____). Practice creating an ‘I feel’ statement. Ask for students to create an ‘I feel’ statement and ask for volunteers to share their statement.
Step 4: Ask for help to solve the problem.
1. Explain to the students the importance of asking an adult or a peer for help.
2. Ask students to brainstorm ideas on how to ask for help. Allow students time to brainstorm ideas and ask for volunteers to share. Record all the suggested ideas on a white board or piece of paper. An example of how to ask for help might be to raise your hand and ask a teacher a question. Raising a hand and asking a question might look like this… I am sitting at my desk and I am going to raise my hand because I need a teacher’s assistance. A teacher walks over to me and asks, “how can I help you?” I tell the teacher “I need help with ____. Can you help me?”
3. Ask students to practice saying the question. ‘can you help me?’ by using the Turn, Pair, Share strategy. Students will turn to their partner and practice saying the question.
Step 5: Take time to calm down.
1. Explain to the students the importance of having a calm body because it helps you focus your mind on school or an activity.
2. Ask students, “what are strategies you can use to calm your body?” Allow students time to brainstorm ideas and ask for volunteers to share. Write all suggested ideas on a white board or piece of paper. An example of how to calm down might be to have a calm down chair or area in the classroom. The ‘Calm Down Corner’ can be designed by the whole class and students can voice their opinions on what they would like in the calm down area.

Note: The Childhood 101 provides students with other alternatives for coping or calming down strategies. See resources to access posters like ‘9 Calm Down Ideas for Kids’ and ‘Calm Down Yoga for Kids’.

Group Activity: Wheel of Coping Strategies

Purpose: This wheel allows students to select coping strategies they would want to use when experiencing a strong emotion.

Materials: paper plates, paper fastener, markers

Time: 10 to 15 minutes

Procedure:

Students will begin activity on the carpet or an open floor plan.
As a class, brainstorm coping ideas or strategies that can be used when experiencing a strong emotion. Encourage the students to refer to the ‘5 Steps to Managing Strong Emotions’ Poster. Record suggested ideas on a technology board or a poster board.
1. Examples of coping strategies include deep breathing, counting, drawing a picture, reading a book, listening to music, writing a story, talking to someone, running around outside.
Explain to the students the ‘Wheel of Coping Strategies’. Each student will receive two paper plates. Cut a small box or shape towards the middle of the first plate, the plate that will be on the top of the two plates. The top plate can be decorated and can say ‘_____’s Coping Wheel’. The bottom plate is were the students will write the strategies he or she would like to use when experiencing a strong emotion.
When the students have cut the small shape, decorated the top plate, and written the strategies on the bottom plate, the students will place the plates together and push the paper fastener through the two plates. Aid students during this step.
Allow students time to play with their new coping wheel.

Note: See additional resources for more information about the coping wheel activity.

Brain Cooldown: Calming Myself

Purpose: This activity allows for students to select a coping strategy and draw a picture of themselves practicing the skill. This provides the students with a vision of what the strategy looks like in action.

Materials: calming myself graphic organizer

Time: 5 minutes

Procedure:

Students will sit at their desk or a table to complete the activity.
Each student will receive a ‘Calming Myself’ graphic organizer to complete.
Students will select a coping strategy they envision themselves using and drawing a picture of what the strategy would look like.

Click for 'Calming Myself' Graphic Organizer