EL Support Lesson
Making Connections with Our Feelings
Objectives
Academic
Students will be able to reflect on their own feelings about moving to first grade.
Language
Students will be able to use emotion words to share their feelings with grade level words using visual and written supports.
Introduction
(2 minutes)
- Ask if anyone has ever felt "happy" before. Pause to allow think time, and then have students turn and talk to a partner to share something that makes them feel happy.
- Gather students together and explain that today you will be reading a story about all different kinds of feelings, and that the students will get a chance to think about their own feelings about the end kindergarten.
Building academic language
Word
(5 minutes)- Provide student-friendly definitions of the vocabulary words for the students in the form of prewritten cards and/or visuals. Incorporate home language definitions as needed.
- Explain that emotions are what we call our feelings or how we explain how we are feeling on the inside. We use many different words to explain how we feel.
- Read aloud a list of feeling words: anxious, worried, happy, sad, excited, and scared. As you read the words aloud, provide examples of when you might feel that way. Say, "I feel happy when it is my birthday."
- Have students stand up and practice showing how different feelings look on their faces and bodies as you repeat the feeling words again.
Sentence
(10 minutes)- Display precut Mindfulness: Guide to Feelings Cards and the Vocabulary Cards on the board for students to reference.
- Read aloud Wemberly Worried by Kevin Henks
- Pause as you read to point out the feeling words and ask the students to reflect on how the main character might be feeling.
- Have students refer to the feeling cards and use sentence frames as they share their reflections. For example, "I think she feels ____ because ____."
Discourse
(10 minutes)- Pass out the Understanding Feelings worksheet to each student.
- Read aloud the directions and provide a home language glossary as needed.
- Have students complete the worksheet independently.
Additional EL adaptations
BEGINNING
- Work with a small group of students to practice identifying and using feeling words.
- Encourage students to focus on facial expressions to illustrate their feelings.
ADVANCED
- Have students write complete sentences to describe their feelings for each of the pictures.
Formative Assessment of Academic Language
(5 minutes)- Ask students to think about the end of kindergarten. Tell students that now they will get to draw a picture and finish a sentence about how they are feeling about going to first grade.
- Pass out an index card to each student.
- Provide the following sentence frame for students to use to label their picture, "I feel ____." Prompt them to use the feeling words on the mindfulness cards as a support.
Review and closing
(5 minutes)- Review that we all have many different feelings inside of us and that it is important to know how we feel so that we can share those feelings with our friends and families.
- Have a few students share out their feelings with the class.
Related learning resources
Glossary: Making Connections with Our Feelings
Worksheet
Glossary: Making Connections with Our Feelings
Use this glossary with the EL Support Lesson: Making Connections with Our Feelings.
Kindergarten
Reading & Writing
Worksheet
Vocabulary Cards: Making Connections with Our Feelings
Worksheet
Vocabulary Cards: Making Connections with Our Feelings
Use these vocabulary cards with the EL Support Lesson: Making Connections with Our Feelings.
Kindergarten
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Worksheet
Making Connections with Our Feelings
Lesson plan
Making Connections with Our Feelings
In this feelings-focused lesson, ELs will practice identifying feelings and using feeling words as they reflect on the end of kindergarten and the beginning of first grade.
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Phonics With The Very Hungry Caterpillar
With help from the ever-popular *The Very Hungry Caterpillar* by Eric Carle, students will learn about metamorphosis while developing their phonics skills.
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