Self-Awareness
Intermediate (Gr. 3–4)

Objective: Students will be able to identify the range of emotions they have. 

Estimated Duration: 20 minutes 

Description: Emotional awareness is the ability to notice, accurately name, and interpret our emotions. It is an important skill students need to be successful in life.  

Emotional awareness helps us know what we need and want (or don't want!) and helps to build better relationships. That's because being aware of our emotions can help us talk about feelings more clearly, avoid and resolve conflicts appropriately, and move past difficult feelings more easily. 

Many children can express being happy, sad, or mad, but often they miss the subtle gradations or shades in emotions. This is because they don’t have the words to describe them.  

Naming emotions accurately helps students be clearer about what is happening inside, so they can manage themselves in positive ways and become better learners. 

This activity will help students build their emotional vocabulary. First, they will choose one emotion and list its shades (e.g., happy, joyful, elated).  Next, they will draw a face to show what that emotion looks like and describe what makes them feel that shade.  

Teachable Moments: There are many ways you can help students identify their emotions: 

• Talk about your emotions and feelings; ask students about theirs 
• Have students name their emotions and the behaviors or body language associated with them 
• Model reactions and emotional behavior 
• Use characters in books to illustrate different emotions, facial expressions, and behaviors 
• Have students create a thesaurus of emotions to use when they need to find the right word to describe how they are feeling  
• Have students create a mood meter to help them identify how they are feeling; this can be especially helpful to students who find it difficult to talk about their emotions. 

Objective: Students will be able to build self-esteem.  

Estimated Duration: 20 minutes 

Description: Self-esteem is a person’s sense of worth. Students with high self-esteem feel confident and capable. They value themselves and their abilities.  

When students feel confident and secure, they are more likely to succeed in school and achieve personal goals. They are also more likely to motivate themselves to take on new challenges and cope with and learn from mistakes. They may stand up for themselves more and ask for help when they need it. 

This activity will help students build self-esteem by having them draw or write about situations that they felt very proud of themselves. They can bookmark the page to come back to for a little boost of confidence throughout the year. 

Teachable Moments: There are many ways you can improve and build self-esteem in your students: 

• Greet every child at the door with a smile and say his or her name. 
• Touch base with every child. 
• Encourage students to advocate for themselves. 
• Give constructive criticism and include time for detailed feedback. 
• Let students fix mistakes. 
• Encourage students to find things they like about themselves. 
• Teach students to learn from their mistakes. 
• Celebrate student successes. 

Objective: Students will be able to build a growth mindset. 

Estimated Duration: 20 minutes 

Description: A growth mindset is when you believe your intelligence and abilities can be improved with practice and the power of growing your brain. It is important for students to learn to adopt a growth mindset because it can help them overcome obstacles when they learn something new or develop a new skill. When students use a growth mindset, they understand the importance of persistence and determination. They see roadblocks and constructive feedback as methods to gather information to help themselves learn and progress. Instead of giving up in the face of challenges, students with a growth mindset keep going because they believe they can achieve the goal. 

This activity will help students build a growth mindset by writing a collection of daily affirmations that they can use to help overcome self-sabotaging and negative thoughts.  

Teachable Moments: There are many ways you can help improve and build a growth mindset in your students: 

• Be mindful of feedback, emphasize improvement over talent and intelligence. 
• Praise the process, not just the end result. 
• Include reflection as a part of assignments. 
• Discuss your own experiences and struggles. 
• Explain that failure is a part of the process of learning new things. 
• Use diverse teaching strategies. 
• Provide attainable challenges. 
• Give opportunities to face obstacles. 

1. Cut along the outside solid black lines of the If I have positive self-esteem… Foldable.  
   
   
2. Fold along the dotted line at the top of the rectangle to form an anchor tab. Glue the folded tab on top of the gray If I have positive self-esteem… anchor tab space in the student book.   
   
   
3. Discuss how If…Then sentences are written. Relate them to cause and effect. Students complete the sentence under the tab.   

1. Cut along the outside solid black lines of the Me Trying Something Difficult Foldable. Have students draw a picture of themselves attempting something new or practicing something they are learning. 
   
   
2. Fold along the dotted line at the top of the Foldable to form an anchor tab. Glue the folded tab on top of the gray Me Trying Something Difficult… anchor tab space in the student book. 
   
   
3. Under the tab, observe the outline of a brain and discuss the title – This is how I grow my brain. Students record present and future ways they plan to grow their brains. This is a private writing area covered by a tab.