Unit 1: Feelings. Lesson 1 of 2 · 95 minutes, start to finish.
Two ways to teach Lesson 1 today. Grab the printable plan for your binder, or scroll down and run the whole lesson live, right on this page, with working activities and sheets you can print as you go.
Lesson at a glanceUnit 1 · Lesson 1 of 2 · 95 min · K–3
OBJECTIVE
Students name what they feel, accept that every feeling is okay, and practice one tool for calming a big feeling.
CASEL
Self-awareness and self-management.
PREP
Print the eight sheets. Clear floor space for a circle. Board and markers, crayons, safety scissors.
ACTIVITIES
Circle Talk 5 min · Naming Feelings 10 min · Drawing 20 min · Bob Story 15 min · Box Breathing 20 min · Bookmarks 25 min.
CLOSING
Three review questions, a wall poster, and a take-home Feelings Mission.
LESSON 1 · TEACH IT LIVE
Express your feelings and respect yourself
Open an activity to get the purpose, steps, and a ready-to-print sheet or cutout.Print straight from this page and have fun.
Eight sheets. Print them, or save one PDF.
Opened0 / 95 min
1Circle Talk5 min+–
Purpose. Help students practice saying a feeling out loud in a safe group, and hear that classmates feel things too.
Who shares next?
Spin to pick who shares next. Nobody gets volunteered.
Circle 1
Circle 2
8 in circle
Everyone take a seat number.
STEPS
Seat students in a circle so everyone can see each other.
Going around the circle, each student names their feeling right now in one word.
Invite four or five volunteers to say why they feel that way.
MATERIALS
Carpet or open floor space
Feeling word cutouts (print below)
Note for teachers
If a student shares something serious, like someone hurting them or not being safe at home, thank them for trusting you, move on gently so they are not on display, and follow up privately after the circle. Follow your school's reporting steps. Never promise to keep it secret.
Printable: “Today I feel…” cutout cards
Name:
Today I feel…
Circle Talk cutouts · cut along the dashed lines ✂ Big Head Bob Academy · Unit 1, Lesson 1
Tap a card to make it pop!
🙂
Happy
😢
Sad
😠
Angry
😮
Surprised
😌
Calm
✏️
My own word
2Naming Feelings10 min+–
Purpose. Build feelings vocabulary fast, then sort the words into positive and negative together.
STEPS
Split the class into two teams at the board.
Teams race for 2–3 minutes to write as many feeling words as they can. No repeats.
Count words, then sort every word as a class into positive and negative.
MATERIALS
Class board and markers
Sorting chart (print below)
Note for teachers
There is no answer key. “Excited” can feel good or scary; “surprised” can be either. When students disagree, let both answers stand and ask what makes the difference. That is the real lesson.
Printable: positive / negative sorting chart
Name:
Our Feeling Words
Naming Feelings chart Big Head Bob Academy · Unit 1, Lesson 1
Click a line and type the words your class calls out.
Sort the Feelings
Tap a word, then tap a column. Tap a placed word to send it back. There are no wrong answers.
3Drawing20 min+–
Purpose. Help students notice how their body and their actions change in a good mood versus a bad mood.
STEPS
Hand out the drawing worksheet, one per student.
Students draw themselves in a good mood and in a bad mood.
They write what they do in each mood and what causes it.
Hang the finished pictures up and share a few as a class.
MATERIALS
Drawing worksheet (print below)
Crayons, markers, or pencils
Note for teachers
Watch for students who draw the bad mood first and stay there. Prompt them back to the good-mood box before sharing time, so nobody hangs their hardest day on the wall alone.
Share timer
Three minutes each. Add or take away 30 or 60 seconds. When it hits zero, switch partners.
3:00
Printable: good mood / bad mood drawing sheet
Name:
Me in a Good Mood & a Bad Mood
Drawing worksheet Big Head Bob Academy · Unit 1, Lesson 1
In a GOOD mood 🙂
In a BAD mood 😕
4Big Head Bob Story15 min+–
Purpose. Watch how Big Head Bob accepts failure and turns a weakness into a strength, then connect it to students' own lives.
Trace the square in the air together as you count.
Run several slow cycles with the widget below.
Agree on when to use it: before a test, after an argument, at bedtime.
MATERIALS
A quiet space to sit
Wall poster (print below)
Or try it below:
Box Breathing
Project this and follow the dot together. In for four, hold, out for four, hold.
Press startBreathe inHoldBreathe outHold
Cycles completed: 0
Printable: Box Breathing wall poster
Name:
Box Breathing
Trace the square with your finger. Count to four on every side.
HOLD · 4
BREATHE IN · 4
BREATHE OUT · 4
HOLD · 4
6Bookmarks25 min+–
Purpose. Make a keepsake full of cheer-up phrases students can reach for on a hard day.
STEPS
Print and cut the bookmark templates.
Students decorate them however they like.
Each student writes their own cheer-up phrase on the back.
Keep the bookmark in a reading book for hard days.
MATERIALS
Bookmark templates (print below)
Crayons and safety scissors
Note for teachers
Ask students to write a phrase they would actually say to themselves, not the prettiest one. A bookmark in their own words gets used; a copied one does not.
Printable: 4 bookmark templates · 2 per page
Name:
Cheer-Up Bookmarks
2.7" × 7" · cut along the dashed edges · decorate · write your own phrase on the back
Make your own bookmark
Type a phrase in your own words, draw on it, add stickers, then print your bookmark on its own page.
Add a sticker, then drag it anywhere
Need words? “This feeling will pass.” · “I can try again.” · “I am enough.”
This feeling will pass.
Breathe. In 4. Out 4.
I am still learning. That's okay.
Be kind. Be calm.
CLOSE THE LESSON · 5 MIN
What we learned today
Ask the class first. Then tap to see what Bob says.
What do we do when a feeling gets big?
Name it out loud, then breathe. In four, hold four, out four, hold four.
Is it okay to feel angry or sad?
Every feeling is okay. What we do next is the part we choose.
How can you tell what you are feeling?
Check your body and your face, then find the word for it.
Printable: classroom takeaway poster
Printable: take-home Feelings Mission
In Our Class
Classroom poster · hang it where everyone can see it
Every feeling is okay.
We name it out loud.
We breathe. In 4. Out 4.
This feeling will pass.
We listen to each other.
Name:
My Feelings Mission
Three things I will try this week · take this home
Type the class's ideas here, then print one for everyone.
BONUS · CALM ANY TIME
Bob's Calm Corner
Put it up when a big feeling shows up, to start the day, or for a peaceful end. Free, no prep, no printing.
