Year Level

Year 6

Duration

60 minutes

Unit Context

Unit 2: Understanding Consent and Emotions
Lesson 4 of 8
Focus: How emotions influence decision-making with respect to consent and relationships.

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Curriculum Alignment

Western Australian Curriculum - Health and Physical Education
Relevant Content Descriptions and Elaborations:

• AC9HP6P06: Apply strategies to manage emotions and analyse how emotional responses influence interactions, including decision making in peer and family contexts.
• AC9HP4P07: Rehearse and refine strategies for seeking, giving and denying permission respectfully (links to understanding consent).
• Emphasis on recognising emotions, how they influence choices, and managing these emotions in decision-making.

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Learning Intention (WALT)

We Are Learning To identify how emotions influence our decisions and understand emotional triggers in ourselves and others.

Success Criteria

• I can identify emotions that influence choices.
• I can explain how emotions affect decisions.
• I can recognise personal emotional triggers.

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Resources

• Emotion cards (with clear emotion names and colour-coded for dyslexia-friendly readability)
• Colour-coded emotion charts
• Scenario cards illustrating different emotional situations (gender, cultural diversity, and inclusive examples)
• Personal emotion journals (notebooks or paper for reflections)
• Whiteboard and markers
• Timer

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Lesson Plan

1. Introduction and Explicit Teaching (10 minutes)

Teacher explains the learning intention and success criteria. Display WALT and SC in visual format.

• Start with a brief recap of previous lessons on emotions and consent.
• Explicit teaching about:
  • What is an emotion?
  • Examples of common emotions that influence decision-making (e.g., anger, happiness, fear, excitement).
  • How emotions can sometimes speed up, slow down, or change the decisions we make.
  • Introduce the idea of emotional triggers – things that cause strong emotions.

Dyslexia-friendly approach: Use a colour-coded emotion chart projected or displayed prominently. Use simple, clear language and visual cues.

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2. Small Group Activity: Exploring Emotional Scenarios (20 minutes)

Split class into 6 groups of 5 students.

• Give each group a set of emotion cards and scenario cards.
• Each group reads a scenario describing a situation requiring a decision (e.g., "Your friend wants you to do something you feel uncomfortable about. What emotions might you feel? How might these feelings affect your decision?").
• Students identify which emotions might be triggered, using the emotion cards and chart.
• Groups discuss how those emotions might influence the choices made.
• Encourage students to think about emotional triggers and how to recognise them.

Differentiation:

• Provide extra support and simplified cards to AHD and lower-level learners.
• Use peer buddies for AFS student to support understanding.

Teacher circulates to support, ask prompting questions, keep discussion focused, and scaffold thinking.

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3. Whole-Class Group Discussion and Reflection (15 minutes)

• Each group shares one scenario and explains the emotions involved and how they influence decision-making.
• Facilitate a respectful and supportive class discussion on the variety of emotions and decisions, linking back to the learning intention.

Extension for advanced learners:
Challenge them to suggest strategies for managing emotional responses to make better decisions.

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4. Personal Emotion Journal Activity (10 minutes)

• Students begin or continue an emotion journal. Provide guiding questions such as:

  • What emotions have influenced my decisions this week?
  • Can I identify any triggers that made me feel a strong emotion?
  • How did those emotions affect my choices?

• Journals encourage reflection and personal connection to learning.

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5. Summary and Plenary (5 minutes)

• Recap key points: emotions influence decisions, emotional triggers exist, recognising and managing these helps us make better choices.
• Ask 2-3 students to share one new thing they learned.
• Remind students of their success criteria to self-assess.
• Set a personal challenge: Try to notice your emotions next time you have to make a decision this week.

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Differentiation Strategies

• Provide emotion cards with colours and pictures for students with learning difficulties including dyslexia.
• Use clear, explicit instructions and check understanding frequently.
• Peer support and cooperative learning assist EAL/AFS students.
• Scaffold discussions with sentence starters (e.g., "I feel ___ when ___ because ___.").

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Extension Activity

• Encourage advanced learners to continue their emotion journal with weekly entries and to track how emotional awareness affects their decisions across the school week.
• Optionally, create a creative writing or drawing piece about a time emotions influenced a decision and how it was managed.

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Assessment

• Formative assessment via observation of group discussions assessing ability to:
  • Identify emotions influencing choices
  • Explain impact of emotions on decisions
  • Recognise emotional triggers
• Use teacher anecdotal notes during discussions and journal reflections.

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Christian Context Adaptation (Optional)

• Discuss how self-awareness of emotions helps us respect one another as we are made uniquely by God.
• Highlight the importance of kindness and patience in decision-making influenced by emotions.
• Encourage reflection on Biblical teachings about self-control and treating others with respect.

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Summary

This lesson plan explicitly teaches Year 6 students to understand the influence of emotions on decision-making, in alignment with the Western Australian Curriculum code AC9HP6P06, embedding strong scaffolding and differentiation for diverse learners. It intentionally blends explicit teaching, collaborative learning, personal reflection, and assessment designed to engage students in meaningful health education related to consent and emotions.

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If you need I can also generate detailed resources like emotion cards or student journal templates to accompany this lesson!