Emotional Development Lesson Plan

“Emotional Animals”

Marco Carreiro

Department of Education, Concordia University

EDUC 395: Internship III - Kindergarten Teaching

Prof. Nathalie Rothschild

October 19, 2023

 LESSON PLAN
Preschool Cycle – Grade K4
______________________________________________________________________________
GENERAL INFORMATION
Name: Marco Carreiro
School: Beacon Hill Elementary
Cooperating Teacher: Nathalie Mancini
Lesson’s Date: October 19, Thursday
Lesson’s Time: 1:25 - 2:00 PM
Grade & Age of Students: K4, 4 years-old
Number of Students: 9
______________________________________________________________________________
LESSON INFORMATION
Lesson’s Title: Emotional Animals
Brief Description:
- The students will listen to a quick introduction on emotions and feelings, specifically
happy, sad, and scared. The students will listen to a reading of the book “Scaredy
Squirrel: Makes a friend” by Melanie Watt. After the story, the students will engage in a
quick discussion on emotions and feelings using visual examples on the Smartboard.
After our discussion, the students will choose an emotion and animal from the list and
draw their own animal with an emotion on a worksheet. After the students draw their
animals, they will also create their own name tags with their real names on it, similar to
the name tag in the book. Once both are complete, each student will come up to the front
of the class, say their name, and talk about the emotional animal they drew in their
picture, assisted by prompt questions from the teacher.

Lesson’s Source:
- This lesson was inspired by Melanie Watt’s series of books using different animals
contrasting different emotions.

Prior Knowledge and/or Experience Required:

- Ability to hold a pencil and marker

Materials & Resources:

- Book: “Scaredy Squirrel: Makes a friend” by Melanie Watt (Amazon Link)
- 8x Emotional Animals Worksheet (see appendix A)
- 8x Animal Examples Paper (see appendix B)
 - 8x Name Tags (see appendix C)
- 8x String (attached to nametag, long enough to put around a child’s head)
- Markers
- Pencils

Organization of Space:
- The students will sit on the carpet at the front of the class, facing the teacher. The
Smartboard will be on, waiting to show a list of animals and emotions from the
worksheet (see appendix A). The reader will be sitting next to the Smartboard, facing the
students. The 2 tables will be placed away from each other, allowing for space. There will
be 4 chairs per table minimum. The worksheets, name tags, markers, and pencils will be
placed on the tables ahead of time. The door will be closed to provide a quiet space to
listen to the story and work.

Transitions:
- This activity will take place after nap-time at 1:25.
- The students will place their mats for napping back in the corner and put away their
blankets and stuffed animals.
- After putting everything away, they will put on their indoor shoes and sit on the carpet.
- After the introduction, the students will be called to quietly walk to either the orange
table or red table, having 4 students seated at each table.
- Once they are finished with the activity, they may push their chairs in and sit on the
carpet, ready to listen to the presentations.
- After the presentations, the students will give the teacher their worksheets and name tags,
which will all be given back to them at the end of the day.
- Once everything is finished, the students will put away their lunchbox, backpack, and
switch into their outdoor shoes and jacket to transition into recess.
- The entire activity is a total of 35 minutes.

______________________________________________________________________________
TARGETED PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCY
Competency #5: Evaluate Learning
______________________________________________________________________________
CURRICULAR COMPETENCIES, OBJECTIVES, AND ASSESSMENT PLAN
Targeted Curricular Evidence of Meeting
Objectives Assessment
Competency and Feature the Objective
- By presenting - If the objective Presentation
Emotional Development:
their emotional has been met, Rubric /
- Expresses own
animal to the students might Questioning
emotions
class, students showcase the (see appendix D)
 will be able to emotion and
recognize animal they
different drew and say it
emotions. to the class.
- By creating their
- If the objective
own emotional
has been met,
animals by
students might
Emotional Development: themselves,
choose their Work Samples
- Explores own students will be
own emotion, (see appendix E).
autonomy able to explore
animal, and
choices and carry
draw it without
out tasks
assistance.
autonomously.
______________________________________________________________________________
PROCEDURE
Introduction (10 minutes):
- The students are seated at the carpet and will be introduced to the topic of emotions and
feelings. The students will be told that there are different types of emotions that make us
feel a certain way.
- The students will be asked questions such as:
- 1. What is something that makes you feel happy? Does playing with toys make
you feel happy?
- 2. What is something that makes you feel sad or scared? Are you scared of the
dark?
- 3. Can we make a happy face? What about a sad face?
- After talking about the emotions of happy, sad, and scared, the students will be told that
those are a few emotions that we feel every day, and that there are many more emotions
we can feel.
- After introducing the topic of emotions, the students will be shown the cover of the book
called “Scaredy Squirrel: Makes a friend”. The students will be told that in this book, the
character is scared of many many things, but after facing his fear, he becomes happy.
- The students will then listen to the teacher read the book. During the reading, the students
could be shown the different faces the squirrel makes, representing happy or scared
emotions.
- After a reading of the book, the students will be asked if they know of any other
emotions.
Development (25 minutes):
- After a quick discussion, the students will be shown a worksheet including 8 emotions
and 8 animals (see appendix A). On this worksheet, the students will focus on looking at
the faces of emotions and the animals.
- The students will be told that they will create their own animals with emotions, similar to
scaredy squirrel. The students can be given an example (e.g. Happy Dog, Excited Cat)
- The students will each be asked which emotion and animal would they like to choose and
draw. If a student needs assistance saying the emotion or animal, they may point to the
pictures if needed.
- Once each student has a turn to choose their emotion and animal, the students will be told
that they will also create their own name tags similar to Scaredy Squirrel (see appendix
C). The students could also be shown the cover of the book to see the name tag.
- After that, each student will head to their assigned seat and be given a worksheet.
- Before the students start drawing, the teacher will ask the student which emotion and
animal they chose and write it at the top where it says ‘Animal Name:’.
- The students may also colour in the boxes for the emotion and animal they chose, or
simply circle the boxes.
- The students will also be given an animal example worksheet if they need help looking at
a picture to draw their animal (see appendix B).
- As the students are designing their animals in the respective boxes, the students may also
be reminded to give their animals a face with an emotion.
- 1. “If you chose a Happy Fox, do not forget to draw a happy face on your animal.
If you do not know how to draw your emotion, you can look at the pictures below
or ask for help!”
- Once the students are finished creating their emotional animals, they will be given a
name tag to try and write their own name on. If a student needs help writing their name,
they can be given a paper with their name written on it to try and copy. The students will
also be reminded to try and write their names on the lines.
- After the students finished writing their names, they will go to the teacher for them to
place their strings on their name tags.
- Once that is finished, the students may place their name tags around their head.
- Once the name tags and emotional animals are complete, each student, one at a time, will
start their presentations at the carpet.
- Each student will be asked 4 questions during the presentation, which will be used to help
fill in the presentation rubric (see appendix D).
- 1. “Which animal did you choose?”
- 2. “Which emotion did you choose for your animal?”
- 3. “Why did you choose that emotion and that animal?”
- 4. “Could you show and tell everyone what is in the picture you drew?”
 - If a student needs guidance answering a question, they could be provided
with prompt answers to agree or disagree with.
- Each student may start the presentation without these questions, but should try to answer
them on their own throughout the presentation. Guidance can be given if needed.

Conclusion (2 minutes):
- After each student finishes their presentation, the students will be reminded to clap for
the presenters as a sign of respect.
- Once all the presentations are finished, the students will be asked what emotions and
animals they see their friends choose.
- After every student has a chance to answer, the students will hand in their papers and
name tags, and then transition into recess.

______________________________________________________________________________
FOLLOWING THE LESSON
Assessment of Lesson Objectives:
- The students’ objectives were assessed through the use of presentation rubric,
questioning, and work samples.

- The first objective of the lesson was for the students to recognize different emotions
through the presentation of emotional animals. By including a presentation, the students
were able to present their own creation of an emotional animal, as well as listen to their
classmates' creations. Every student had their own unique design and also used different
emotions. The students were able to present the emotion they chose and view the faces of
emotions that their peers chose. To make sure the objective was met, during the
presentation, the students’ were assessed through a rubric (see appendix D), which would
check to see a student’s understanding. The rubric looks to see if the student had
mentioned their chosen emotion, shows the emotion visually in their image, and says why
they chose that emotion. During the presentation, the students were able to say these
answers without guidance, but questioning was available to answer these questions if
extra guidance was needed. This rubric helps assess the students to see if they can expose
themselves to different emotions either by saying the name, listening to others say the
name, or seeing visual examples of them. To add, asking the students to say why they
chose an emotion could help a student understand what an emotion represents (e.g. a sad
face represents something bad, not good.)

- In this lesson, every student, excluding one student (student O), were able to answer the
questions provided in the rubric either with or without guidance. Student O was unable to
answer the question of ‘why they chose that emotion’(i.e. The sad emotion), but instead,
replied with the fact that they like the beaver. In the following objective, student O had
 difficulty recognizing the images and perhaps, this led to difficulties in this area. Student
O was also the only student to choose the emotion of sadness, leaving a moment of
interest in our thoughts. My CT and myself are not sure why she chose sadness, but the
parents told us earlier in the day that this student had a rough morning leaving for school;
a note to add to our observation. To continue, students L and D were in an opposite
situation where they were able to answer the rubrics questions without much guidance.
The only question I had asked them was why they chose that emotion. Most of the
students were able to say the name of the emotion they chose, draw something to
symbolize that emotion, and showcase it to the class.

- The second objective in the lesson was for the students to explore their own autonomy by
carrying out activities without assistance. This objective was assessed through their
emotional animal worksheets. The students were asked to pick an emotion, an animal,
and to draw them together on their own (see appendix E). The students were also given
faces for each emotion on the worksheet and example pictures of animals to help the
drawing process.

- In this lesson, a majority of the students did a great job in exploring their own autonomy
in their choices, colouring or circling the boxes, and drawing without assistance.
However, students E and O did have difficulty in this area. Student E would be reluctant
in their choices and consistently ask if they should do this or to help draw their animal.
This student had a hard time initiating their drawing without assistance in the drawing
portion of this objective. Student O had a hard time choosing the emotion and animal
they wanted because they did not recognize what the images meant. After providing
assistance, the student chose an animal but did not draw it until I circled and highlighted
the image for them to draw.

- Overall, a majority of the students were able to meet the objectives, but students E and O
could continue to improve in both their autonomy exploration and recognition of
emotions.

Self-Evaluation:
- My professional competency focused on my ability as a teacher to evaluate a student’s
learning, and this competency was assisted by a rubric.

- To practice evaluating my students’ learning, I had created a rubric to see if my students

reached an objective. This rubric was used during their presentation time and it was used
to assess their recognition, understanding, and visuals of emotions. To make sure I
evaluated my students properly, I created 4 questions in my rubric, having 3 of them
focus on the emotions aspect. The rubric would check to see if the questions have been
 answered, whether or not the students answered it on their own accord or with guidance.
To add, the rubric would provide 3 options for each question:
- Yes.
- (e.g. If a student was asked ‘which emotion did you use?’ and they
answered ‘happy’ and their emotional animal was called “Happy Fox”,
they would get a: Yes.)
- No.
- (e.g. If a student was asked ‘which emotion did you use?’ and they could
not answer, they would get a: No.)
- Answered Incorrectly.
- (e.g. If a student was asked ‘which emotion did you use?’ and they
answered ‘happy’ but their emotional animal was called ‘Sad Fox’, they
would get a: Answered Incorrectly.)

- Overall, I believe I did a decent job in creating an opportunity to improve my ability to

evaluate learning. The reason why I say ‘decent’ is because I found myself having
difficulties deciding what would be a good way to evaluate, or how to create a good
rubric. After evaluating all my students, I would still ask myself, did this rubric fully
prove that the students recognize and understand different emotions, or did they
memorize the emotion they chose based on the words I used? To add, did they purposely
choose emotions that I used as examples a lot, since it was easier to remember? These are
examples of questions I asked myself after I did my little evaluations. I do believe the
students did a great job at recognizing the emotions when I pointed it out to them or when
I asked them questions, but perhaps it may be a good idea to target more activities with
focusing on recognizing emotions to truly see if my evaluations were correct. In the end,
both the students and myself still need to practice in our respective areas as I continue to
find opportunities to create evaluations.

Cooperating Teacher’s Feedback:

- Great introduction story, the kids were really engaged!

- The worksheets were great, really cute and easy to understand.
- I like the addition of the animals worksheet, but maybe there could have been more examples
of each animal to make them more unique?
- Try to focus on more ways to help students visualize and understand harder emotions and
feelings (like ‘confused’)
- Presentations were a lovely addition, they went well!
Appendix A
Appendix B
Appendix C
Appendix D
Appendix E