Recognising Emotions

Learning Objectives

By the end of the 45-minute lesson, students will be able to:

• Identify and name basic emotions: happy, sad, angry, and scared.
• Describe situations or feelings related to each emotion.
• Use emotional vocabulary accurately to express how they or others might feel.
• Demonstrate understanding of emotions through discussion and creative activities.

These objectives align with the New Zealand Curriculum Refresh Health and Social Sciences learning area, particularly at the early level for Year 2 students. The focus is on understanding self and others, recognising feelings, and developing communication skills to express emotions clearly and respectfully. This supports the key competency of managing self and relating to others as described in the curriculum.

Curriculum Links

• Health and PE, Level 1, Understanding Self: Recognise and describe a range of feelings and emotions, and understand that people experience them differently.
• Social Sciences, Level 1: Understand how people feel in different situations and how they express emotions verbally and non-verbally.
• Key Competencies: Managing Self, Relating to Others, Participating and Contributing.
• Learning Area Strands: Personal Wellbeing, Identity, and Relationships.

Resources

• Large emotion face cards depicting expressions: happy, sad, angry, scared.
• Simple storybook or scenarios illustrating characters showing these emotions.
• A feelings chart or poster with words and pictures of emotions.
• Drawing materials: paper, crayons, or markers.
• Emotion puppets or soft toys with interchangeable faces (optional).
• Music player for a short “emotion” song or instrumental.

Lesson Plan Breakdown

Time	Activity	Description	Purpose and Curriculum Focus
5 minutes	Warm-up and Introduction	- Greet the class and briefly introduce today's theme: "Knowing What Emotions Are."	Builds a welcoming environment; connects to students’ prior knowledge and belonging needs.
10 minutes	Emotion Face Cards Discussion	- Show each card (happy, sad, angry, scared) one at a time. - Model naming the emotion. - Ask students: “When do you feel this way?” - Encourage brief sharing.	Develops vocabulary and understanding of basic emotions. Aligns with developing emotional vocabulary and communication skills.
10 minutes	Story Time: Emotion Identification	- Read a simple story or tell a scenario with characters showing emotional responses. - Pause to ask: “How is this character feeling? What clues tell us?”	Reinforces recognition of emotions in context; supports comprehension and empathy (relating to others).
10 minutes	Activity: Emotion Drawing or Role Play	- Invite students to draw a face showing one of the emotions. - Alternatively, use puppets to role-play feelings. - Share drawings or role-play with the class briefly.	Encourages self-expression, creativity, and further vocabulary use; engages multiple learning styles. Supports personal wellbeing strand.
5 minutes	Emotion Song and Movement	- Play a short, simple song about emotions. - Encourage students to move or make faces matching each emotion.	Reinforces learning through music and movement; supports engagement and memory retention.
5 minutes	Reflection and Recap	- Ask students to name the emotions learned. - Use a simple circle time to share one thing they learned or felt. - Affirm all contributions positively.	Builds metacognition and self-regulation; reflects on learning and reinforces vocabulary and emotional awareness.

Teaching Strategies

• Use clear, concise language and model emotional vocabulary repeatedly.
• Provide visual cues and consistent gestures to support understanding.
• Encourage peer interaction in small groups or pairs for sharing.
• Use positive reinforcement to validate student contributions.
• Keep explanations brief and age-appropriate, allowing plenty of time for processing and participation.

Assessment Ideas

• Observational Assessment: Monitor students’ ability to correctly identify emotions during discussions and activities.
• Verbal Feedback: Ask individual students to point to or name emotions during the face card activity.
• Creative Output: Review students’ drawings or role-play attempts to assess understanding of emotions.
• Peer Interaction: Note how students use emotional terms when sharing feelings with classmates.
• Self-Reflection Prompt: At the end, ask students to share which emotion they feel most often and why, promoting metacognitive awareness.

Wider Links and Extension

• Incorporate stories and discussions about emotions regularly to build deeper understanding.
• Connect with family and whānau by sending home emotion vocabulary lists to encourage conversations.
• Link to digital tools or apps that promote social-emotional learning in interactive ways.

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This lesson plan not only aligns with the New Zealand Curriculum Refresh by supporting students’ social and emotional wellbeing, communication, and identity formation, but it also integrates a multi-modal approach—visual, auditory, and kinesthetic—to engage young learners meaningfully. It respects their developmental needs by pacing activities thoughtfully and by fostering a supportive classroom environment that encourages self-expression and empathy.

The emphasis on vocabulary development and sentence use complements English Language learning progressions for Year 2, promoting the precise use of emotional words in sentences. This also supports the Health curriculum’s aim of fostering understanding of self and others, essential for personal wellbeing and positive social relationships.

Feel free to adapt the materials and activities to suit your unique class context or to incorporate Māori concepts of emotions and wellbeing for bicultural richness.

Would you like ideas on specific stories or songs suitable for this topic?