---
title: Basic Emotions
description: Students will create a comic to display basic emotions they can feel.
image: https://ideas.pixton.com/hubfs/basic_emotions-001-2.png
---

**Subject: ELA (English Language Arts); SEL (Social-Emotional Learning)**

**Lesson Length: 45 mins - 1 hour**

**Topic: Emotions, Understanding Feelings**

**Grade Level: 1, 2**

**Standards / Framework: **

- [CASEL: SELF-AWARENESS](https://casel.org/fundamentals-of-sel/what-is-the-casel-framework/#interactive-casel-wheel)

**Brief Description:**  Students will display basic emotions they can feel.

**Know Before You Start:** Students should be familiar with the six basic emotions: sadness, happiness, fear, anger, surprise, and disgust.

**Hook:**

- Ask students: 
    - “How do you feel today?”
    - “What are emotions?”
    - “Has there ever been a time you felt _____?”
- Ask students to show a face that looks happy, sad, angry, frustrated, excited.

**Activity:**

- As a class, have students discuss the six basic emotions and act out what someone might look like and sound like when experiencing those emotions.
- Have students discuss example situations where those emotions might occur.
- Have students select an event in their life that made them feel a certain emotion.
- Have students share about the event and their emotions with a partner.
- Using the sample comic as a model, have students create a comic displaying the event they identified and have the character show the emotion the student felt during that event.

**Closure:**

- Have students share their comics with the class or in small groups.
- Have students explain what happened during the event and what made them feel that particular emotion.
- Emphasize the importance of understanding our emotions and what makes us feel a certain way.

**Differentiation:**

- Allow students to use the speech-to-text feature.
- Allow students to work in pairs or groups as needed.
- Allow students to use the voiceover to read their comics aloud.

**Resources:**

- Comic to print or display: [Comic](https://share.pixton.com/q0g63ni).
- Books: 
    - Even Superheroes Have Bad Days by Shelly Becker
    - The Way I Feel by Janan Cain
    - The Sour Grape by Jory John
- Movie: Inside Out by Pixar
- Video: [Emotions for Kids](https://youtu.be/jetoWelJJJk?si=RaG5Nb-1CZKDF5HU)

**Suggested Content:**

- [![](https://img.pixton.com/content-pack/2040150577165447168/thumbnail.png) Amusement Park ](https://content.pixton.com/amusement-park)
- [![](https://img.pixton.com/content-pack/2004983473167663104/thumbnail.png) Playground ](https://content.pixton.com/playground)
- [![](https://img.pixton.com/content-pack/1629220735983722496/thumbnail.png) Superhero ](https://content.pixton.com/superhero)
- [![](https://img.pixton.com/content-pack/2078530841190330368/thumbnail.png) Elementary School ](https://content.pixton.com/elementary-school)

**Suggested Story Starters:**

- [ My Siblings ](https://story-starters.pixton.com/i-love-my-siblings-but)
- [ Caption This! Three-Headed Beast ](https://story-starters.pixton.com/caption-this-three-headed-beast)

Assign Activity

## Related Ideas

[![](https://ideas.pixton.com/hubfs/how_are_you_feeling_-001-2.png)](https://ideas.pixton.com/how-are-you-feeling)

### [How Are You Feeling?](https://ideas.pixton.com/how-are-you-feeling)

Students will interact and negotiate meaning in written conversations in the target language to share information, reactions, feelings, and opinions.

[![](https://ideas.pixton.com/hubfs/create_emotion_characters-001.png)](https://ideas.pixton.com/create-emotion-characters)

### [Create Emotion Characters](https://ideas.pixton.com/create-emotion-characters)

Students will create a comic depicting a variety of emotions.

[![](https://ideas.pixton.com/hubfs/cultural_events_in_my_state-001.png)](https://ideas.pixton.com/cultural-events-in-my-state)

### [Cultural Events in My State](https://ideas.pixton.com/cultural-events-in-my-state)

Students will explore different cultural events throughout their state and learn why they are important.