Lesson Overview:
In this lesson, students will read and discuss books that talk about feelings. They will tell a story about a time when they had a strong feeling and then something happened to change their mood. Students will experiment with adding facial expressions, gestures, and their voice to express an emotion and will incorporate these skills into their own storytelling experience. This lesson will explore how themes in a book—in this case, feelings—can be explored by embodying a character through storytelling.
Length of Lesson:
Three 45-minute class periods
Notes:
This lesson is particularly suitable for students in grades K-2.
Instructional Objectives:
Students will:
- explore the theme of "feelings" in a book.
- describe a time when they had a strong feeling.
- demonstrate how to use facial expressions, gestures, and voice to express emotions.
- listen to a story and offer recommendations for improvements.
- combine storytelling techniques when they tell a story.
Instructional Plan:
Activity One
Read one of the following books about feelings to your class:
- Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by
Judith Viorst (You may also view an online
version of this story)
- Today I Feel Silly: And Other Moods That Make My Day by Jamie Lee
Curtis
- Feelings by Aliki
Ask students to brainstorm a list of feelings. Record the list of feelings
on the board or on a piece of chart paper. (Teacher Note: Save this
list of feelings as it will be used again later in the lesson.)
Explain to students that they are going to tell a story about a time when they
experienced a strong feeling. Draw the story template in the Story
Template handout on the board. Review the story structure with your class
by inserting a story into one of these templates to share with the class.
Pass out the Story
Template to the students and have them use the template to tell a story
about a time that they felt happy, sad, scared, etc. and then something happened
that changed their mood. (Teacher Note: These templates will be used
again in Activity Three).
Activity Two
Collect assorted photographs from magazines in which people are using a variety
of facial expressions to express emotions and share them with your students.
Ask students to identify the emotions that are being expressed in the photographs.
Discuss how using your face and posture helps to portray different emotions.
Copy the list of feeling words from Activity One onto separate pieces of small
paper. Place the pieces of paper in a bag and have students take turns drawing
a piece of paper from the bag. Tell students that they are going to use facial
expressions, body gestures and tone of voice to express the emotion written
on the piece of paper they selected from the bag.
As students are expressing the emotions, ask the students to guess the emotion
the student is expressing. After the emotion is correctly guessed, ask the class
to explain what the student did with his or her body, face, and/or voice that
allowed them to correctly guess what emotion he or she was expressing.
Teacher Note: To enhance this activity, you may do the following:
Bring in an empty picture frame that is big enough to frame a student’s
face. You could also cut a picture frame out of cardboard or construction paper.
After the students have correctly guessed the emotion, hold the frame up in
front of the student and have them make a face that captures the emotion. Have
the other students determine when the student has perfected the look and take
a photograph of the student making the face behind the picture frame.
Activity Three
Teacher Note: For tips on how to help your students tell stories,
you may wish to read the ARTSEDGE How-To Coaching
Youth Storytellers, before completing this activity.
Now that students have told a story about themselves and experienced how gestures
and movements can be used to express emotions, it is time for them to combine
these elements into a storytelling experience. Tell students that they are going
to tell a story based on the story they told in Activity One.
Return the story templates to the students and ask them to spend a few minutes
thinking about how they will incorporate facial expressions, body gestures,
and tone of voice into the telling of the story. Pair students and tell them
to take turns telling their story to a partner. Pass out the Piecing the Story Together worksheet for the student to fill out after their partner has finished telling
his or her story.
After the students have had a chance to practice their stories, provide time
for students to share their stories with the entire class.
Involve students in a class discussion to discuss how the authors in the books
you read show how we are affected emotionally by what happens in our lives.
Teacher Note: Depending on the age level of your students, it might
be necessary to have an adult volunteer help them complete the organizer and
answer the questions.
Assessment:
Assess student performance using the accompanying Assessment Rubric.
Assess student understanding of the book read in Activity One by asking students to draw and explain a picture that demonstrates an understanding of how we are affected emotionally by what happens in our lives.
Extensions:
Word Wall
Create a class word wall with the list of feeling words that the class created. If you took photographs of students making faces that captured the emotion, you could display the photographs next to the word.
Class Book
Take photographs of students when they are telling their stories. Collect all of the students’ stories, add photographs of the students, and combine them to create a class storybook.
Audio Tape
Record the students’ stories and add them to your class audio library.
Sources:
Print:
- Aliki. Feelings. HarperTrophy, 1986.
- Curtis, Jamie Lee. Today I Feel Silly: And Other Moods That Make My Day. Joanna Colter Books, 1998.
- Viorst, Judith. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. New York: Scholastic, 1995.
Authors:
-
Bay Breeze Ed. Resources, Educational Resource
Bay Breeze Educational Resources, Inc.
Greenville, NH
