How Would You Feel?

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

In this lesson, you are going to learn how to tell what a character in a story is thinking or feeling, just by looking at illustrations!

Sounds simple right? Actually it is, but you are going to take your time and learn how to do this so you can use this skill to help you understand stories better. This lesson is full of several fun activities that will help you learn. However, you need to make sure you understand some of the vocabulary used in this lesson so you can understand the lesson.

On a piece of paper, write the following words and definitions or discuss them with your teacher. Then, draw a picture that will help you remember what the word means. You can go to Learner's Dictionary for help with definitions:

• fiction
• illustration

Fictional stories are fun to read because they are about pretend or make-believe characters and situations. Another fun thing about fictional stories are the illustrations or pictures that come with these stories. Besides being colorful, these pictures can help you tell what the character is thinking or feeling.

Before you read any stories today, you are going to make sure you know the different feelings a person or character can have. Let's have some fun making feeling blobs!

1. Make a list of as many feelings as you can think of. You can watch Patty Shukla's Feelings | Emotions song video and listen to the song to help you with your list

2. Gather your materials:
   • art paper
   • feelings blobs template*
   • paintbrush
   • paint
   • scissors
   • art smock
   • art supplies to make faces on the paint blobs

3. Use paint and paintbrush to make large paint splatters on the art paper. Allow the paint to dry.
4. Use art supplies to make faces on the dry blobs of paints. Make one face for each of the feelings you listed at the beginning of this activity. Here is an example of feeling blobs from Terry's Fabrics.
5. After the feeling blobs dry, use them while reading the story, The Ant and The Bee, with your teacher. Each time you read about a feeling in the story, point to the feeling blob that correctly identifies that feeling. You will be reading the story once you get to the Got It? section (The story The Ant and The Bee is available online at Internet Story Club of America).

Here is another activity you can do before reading the story, The Ant and The Bee:

1. Print out the Faces Flashcards (Downloadable Resources).
2. Use a pair of scissors to cut the flashcards from the paper (be careful!).
3. On the back of each card, draw a picture of something that makes you feel like the expression on the front of the card. For example, on the back of the happy card you might draw an ice cream cone!

When you are ready, continue on to the Got It? section to read the story!