Curated OER
Art as Therapy
Students explore how they connect with artwork on an emotional level through writing and the creation of an original piece of art.
Curated OER
Power of Color on Emotion
Fifth graders utilize resources to select, analyze, and journal about a particular artist's expression of mood and feelings. They produce paintings that demonstrate the use of color mixing and schemes that show a variety of emotions.
Curated OER
Descriptive Drawings - Pen and Ink - Art with Text
Pupils create a pen and ink drawing using words to determine values choosing a work with high emotional content and incorporating words that describe the picture's content placing words together tighter, made bolder, etc. to achieve...
Curated OER
Health Education: An Integrated Approach
Fourth graders participate in role plays in order to consider how they use body language and facial expressions to convey their feelings. In this nonverbal communication lesson plan, 4th graders discuss the importance of paying...
Curated OER
Can You Feel the Book?
Students observe and demonstrate a variety of strategies for reading with expression. As a class they identify different expressions and emotions, then create expression cards. Students then discuss appropriate punctuation for the ends...
Curated OER
Making Connections Activity: Seeing Connections Among Works of Art
Students view images from fine and decorative art galleries in the Museumlink Illinois website. They make connections regarding theme, mood, or emotional expression. They present their findings orally and display their images.
National Association of Writers in Education
Character and Situation
Delve into narrative writing that puts choice in the hands of the writers. Kids pick their own characters, emotions, items, and places from a list and tie them together in the exposition. Several questions help guide the writers toward...
Curated OER
Horse Character: Ceramics Lesson
Animals oftentimes elicit various characteristics which make them symbolic or representative of human feeling, action, or emotion. The class creates horse characters out of clay to show character action and symbolism. This is a great...
Curated OER
A Poem About Sadness
In this emotional health worksheet, students explore the feelings of sadness, grief and loss by first reading and decorating a poem which states that it is all right to feel sad. Students color emotion pictures and discuss as a group why...
National Gallery of Canada
One Look Is Worth A Thousand Words
Facial expressions can communicate complex emotions. Examine expressions in several hyperrealistic works of art before beginning a project. Learners will create their own clay faces that show an emotion using either photos or their own...
Anti-Defamation League
The Name Jar: Discussion Guide for Grades Pre-K–1
A lesson spotlights the story, The Name Jar, by Yangsook Choi. After a read-aloud, the class retells the story using puppets or dress-up. They participate in a thoughtful discussion about the story, answer questions relating the book to...
Prestwick House
Writing Arguments in Response to Nonfiction
Emotional appeal or argument? That is the question. An informative lesson helps your class recognize the difference between a logical argument and an emotional appeal and learn how to craft an argumentative response. Writers develop a...
Curated OER
Alexander And The Wind-Up Mouse
Use drama techniques to recreate the story, Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse by Leo Lionni. They engage in problem-solving as they identify the roles they will fufill in their groups for the performance. This is a motivating way to...
Student Achievement Partners
Eleven
Turning 11 comes with a range of emotions. Explore those emotions by reading the short story "Eleven" by Sandra Cisneros. Readers analyze the main character's reactions to the events of her day. Then, they write an essay describing what...
Curated OER
Write Some Dialogue
Learners write dialogue. For this character development instructional activity students use direct or indirect speech to include a confrontation between two characters in their story. Learners portray the emotions of the characters in...
Curated OER
What a Character!
Guide your readers to explore character traits. As a class, discuss and record the traits of a commonly-known fairy tale character. Then do the same with the main character in the class novel. Finally, have learners use magazines and...
Curated OER
It's All About Expression: Growing Independence and Fluency
In an engaging anticipatory set, the teacher uses several different strategies to activate prior knowledge about reading with expression, including using sentence strips (that must be prepped ahead of time) to show different moods. The...
Curated OER
Maus: Making a Visual Representation
How do you represent a tragic event? Are stories of tragic events better left untold? After reading chapter two of Maus and studying other representations of the Holocaust (suggestions are included), class members create a representation...
Curated OER
Shaping the View: Composition Basics
Students examine the elements of composition in various artworks. They analyze and discuss paintings, explore "The National Gallery of Art" website, identify the shape of compositions in paintings, and draw a diagram.
Curated OER
Unsent Letter: Characterization in Briar Rose
After completing Jane Yolen’s Briar Rose, class members assume the voice of Gemma and craft a personal letter to her granddaughter telling Becca how she feels about Becca’s actions and the discoveries at Chelmno. Complete directions for...
Classics for Kids
Listen to the Music
Different pieces of music can elicit different emotions from audience members. A quick tempo can make you feel happy, while a largo piece may bring out a melancholy temperament. Elementary musicians learn more about the instruments and...
Curated OER
Don't Be Silly–Expression is Fun!
As children observe the teacher reading Today I Feel Silly and Other Moods That Make My Day, they take note of the role punctuation plays in the emotion or expression used. They then take turns reading a book with a partner so they can...
San Francisco Symphony
Learning Adjectives through the Duke
Duke Ellington, jazz, and jive kick-off a fun and creative lesson on responding emotionally to music. The class will learn about jive talk used in the 1920s and the life and music of Duke Ellington. They'll listen to a selection of his...
Curated OER
War Poetry, Journals and Letters: Viet Nam
Examine letters written during war-time. In this cross curricular history and English instructional activity, middle and high school scholars read letters and poems written by soldiers in the Vietnam war. They will examine the...