Feelings in Stories

Overview

In this second lesson of “Stories of Resilience and Hope”, students learn to name feelings using clear emotion vocabulary and link those feelings to moments in a personal or class story. They practise using movement and emotion cards to sort feelings, then complete a mid-lesson reflection: “In my story I felt…”

Learning intentions

• Students will learn to name feelings using emotion word choices. (WALT: Name feelings in our experiences using emotion vocabulary.)
• Students will connect “I felt…” to specific story moments.
• Students will practise respectful listening and turn-taking during discussion and group activities.

Success criteria

• I can match emotion words to moments in a story.
• I can say “I felt…” about one experience from my story (with a feeling word).
• I can justify my choice by referring to what happened in that moment.
• I can participate safely and fairly during the emotion-sorting movement activity.

Curriculum links

• Understanding People and Places: recognising that people have feelings and experiences and that these connect to events in stories and real life.
• Civics and Citizenship: recognising how respectful communication supports group discussions.
• Literacy in Social Sciences: using vocabulary to describe experiences and communicate meaning clearly.
• Inquiry skills: posing questions and using evidence from a story moment to support an answer.

Lesson structure (50 minutes)

1. 5 minutes — Welcome + hook Start the introduction slides and show two quick “story moment” pictures (one cheerful, one challenging). Ask: “What could someone be feeling here?” Keep answers brief and praise emotion vocabulary attempts.

2. 8 minutes — Teach emotion words (low talk, visuals) Use the introduction slides to show an emotion word set with simple icons (e.g., happy, sad, scared, worried, proud, angry, calm). Model sentence frames: “In this moment, I felt…” and “I felt… because…”. Emphasise using “felt” to talk about experiences.

3. 10 minutes — Interactive emotion sorting (movement) Place emotion word cards around the room. Students move to stand near an emotion card that matches a teacher-read story moment. After each moment, ask one or two students to share their choice using the frame “I felt…”. Use calm routines: “Stop on the signal, eyes on me, then one voice at a time.” Refer to the introduction slides for the story moments sequence.

4. 12 minutes — Story moment matching (pairs) Distribute the emotion cards and ‘In my story I felt’ worksheet. Students work in pairs to match 4 story moments (short prompts on the sheet) to emotion words from a provided bank, then write one “I felt…” sentence for one moment. Circulate and coach students to link the emotion word to the event: “What happened?” “What changed?”

5. 7 minutes — Mid-lesson checkpoint: emotion cards reflection Give students their emotion reflection cards (or a section of the worksheet if that’s how your class will manage it). Students complete: “In my story I felt…” choosing one emotion word and one reason. Use the introduction slides to show the checkpoint and remind students to include a feeling + a moment.

6. 5 minutes — Share and correct (whole class) Invite 2–3 students to read their sentence. Prompt class feedback using success criteria language: “Did they name a feeling and link it to a moment?” Capture a few strong examples on the board (briefly).

7. 3 minutes — Plenary: exit ticket quick check Return to the introduction slides for a final “emotion word of the day” prompt. Students write or say one sentence: “In my story, I felt…” Then collect or observe quickly.

Resources

• the introduction slides (emotion word visuals + story moment prompts + sentence frames)
• the emotion cards and ‘In my story I felt’ worksheet
• Printed emotion word cards (matching the word set on the slides)
• Icon/colour emotion cards (if separate from the worksheet)
• Teacher-read “story moments” (2–4 short prompts that link to resilience/hope)
• Coloured pencils or markers for emotion chart use
• A class “turn-taking” signal (e.g., raised hand / chime)
• Timer or countdown visual for movement and pair work

Assessment

• Formative: teacher observes during emotion sorting for correct matching and respectful group behaviour.
• Formative: check completed “In my story I felt…” checkpoint for feeling word accuracy and moment linkage.
• Summative-in-mini: collect the emotion cards and ‘In my story I felt’ worksheet to review sentence frames and vocabulary use.

Differentiation

• Support: provide an audio option where students listen to short teacher-read emotion descriptions (e.g., “worried means you feel unsure something bad might happen”).
• Support: use colour-coded feeling charts so students can choose emotions by colour, not only by reading.
• Support (EAL/SEN): sentence starters on the worksheet with blanks (“In this moment, I felt ____.”). Allow pointing to an emotion card before writing.
• Extension: invite advanced students to add a second emotion word for the same moment (e.g., “I felt scared and then calm”) and write one additional sentence using “because…”.
• Dyslexia-friendly reading: offer a version with enlarged font, reduced text per section, and optional audio support for story moment prompts.

Extension (optional)

If you have time, students can choose one emotion word and create a quick “emotion poster” (emotion + icon + “I felt… because…” sentence).