Unit Empathy
Lesson Name Understanding Feelings
Grade Band Early Childhood (K-2)
Required Materials
  • White Board/Chart Paper/SMART board
  • Emotion Visuals or flash cards
  • The Way I Feel by Janan Cain
  • Paper plate/paper circles
  • Popsicle sticks
  • Tape
  • Drawing materials
Standards / Competencies SEL Core Competencies:

  • Self-Awareness: identifying emotions, experiencing self-efficacy, linking feelings, values and thoughts, demonstrating honesty and integrity
  • Self-Management: managing one’s emotions, exhibiting self-discipline
  • Social Awareness: taking others’ perspectives, recognizing strengths in others, demonstrating empathy and compassion, identifying diverse social norms, showing concern for the feelings of others
  • Relationship Skills: communicating effectively, developing positive relationships, showing leadership in groups, resolving conflicts constructively, seeking or offering support when needed

ELA Standards: Listening and Speaking
Social Studies Theme: Individual Development and Identity

Recommended Time 40 mins
Essential Question What are feelings?
Learning Objectives Students will develop an understanding of feelings, learn to identify and express their own emotions, and practice recognizing the feelings of others.
Activating Prior Knowledge Start the lesson by gathering students in a circle and asking them to share a time when they felt a specific emotion (happy, sad, excited, etc.). Write down their responses on the chart paper or whiteboard. Use recent examples, i.e. “I noticed when you were in the math center you were having difficulty with the activity and you said ‘Ugh, I can’t do this’, how were you feeling at that moment?” Connect the concept of feelings to prior learning by revisiting previous discussions about emotions and introducing the idea that feelings are a natural part of being human. Emphasize that everyone experiences a wide range of emotions and different ways of expressing those emotions.
Core Instruction

Whole Group: Read The Way I Feel by Janan Cain. After reading the story shows emotion flashcards or pictures representing different feelings. Discuss each emotion with the class, asking students to share when they might have felt that way and what it looked like on their face. Ask students what their body might feel or look like when they feel that way.

Individual Work: Feelings Popsicle Sticks – Have students decorate popsicle sticks or small cards or plates with different facial expressions representing various emotions. Each student should make a set of sticks/cards for the following emotions: happy, sad, angry, scared, worried. Depending on the allotted amount of time, a template can be made for students to color and cut out.

Whole Group: Students can remain in their seats or return to the whole group area with their popsicle sticks. Explain that you are going to share some scenarios with the students and they are going to think about how you’d feel if it was you in the story and hold up their popsicle stick. Ask students if they could share why they felt a certain way.

Wrap-up Ask students if they noticed if everyone felt the same way about every situation. It is okay for people to feel differently about certain things, some things may make someone feel nervous while others may feel excited and that is okay. Remind students about the Self- Awareness lesson, just how everyone’s self portraits look different, the way people feel and express their emotions may look different as well. It is important for us to recognize our own emotions and what that might look like on the outside and feel like on the inside. We may start noticing how our classmates are feeling and recognizing how people express their emotions.
Learning Beyond Classroom Walls Daily emotion check in – establish a routine where daily or multiple time students have the opportunity to check in with their emotions. This can be done classwide (“Mood Meter”) or on an individual/private check in (Journal)
Supplementary Resources Extension activities:

  • My Body Sends A Signal – read excerpts from the book about the ways our body may look and feel when we have certain emotions. Have students choose an emotion and use words to describe how their body feels
  • Show excerpts from the movie “Inside Out” and discuss the characteristics of the different emotions
  • “If You’re Happy and You Know It” and act out various emotions
  • Role playing or use puppets to act out different scenarios
  • Create a class chart for different emotions, especially those that require self-regulation skills.  Have students list things that they can do when they are feeling angry/worried/sad/lonely/
Additional books about feelings and emotions: https://imaginationsoup.net/books-kids-emotions-feelings/ Printable Emotion Cards: https://childhood101.com/helping-children-manage-big-emotions-printable-emotions-cards/
Instructional Content Adaptations
  • ​​For younger students, use simple and clear emotion flashcards with pictures of faces expressing basic emotions. Keep the discussion and activities focused on a few primary emotions.
  • For older students, introduce more complex emotions and encourage them to explore the reasons behind their feelings. Use words like “frustrated,” “proud,” or “surprised.”
  • For students who may be on the Autism Spectrum or who have difficulty reading people’s facial expressions, introduce “The Big Three”: The Big Three is an Everyday Speech concept that teaches children how to notice the three main facial features that tell us the most about emotions. These are the eyes, eyebrows, and mouth. When eyes are raised, narrowed, or bigger it can mean someone feels surprised, angry, or excited. Eyebrows can move up or down depending on how someone feels. Lastly, our mouths can be smiling, frowning, straight, or a number of different positions. Teach students to watch and recognize the Big Three for clues. ( https://everydayspeech.com/blog-posts/general/free-identifying-feelings-lesson-plan/)