Classroom Lesson Plans

TOPIC: Emotion Management - Soda Pop Head GRADE LEVEL: 4-5

ASCA MINDSETS & BEHAVIORS:

B-SMS 7: Demonstrate effective coping skills when faced with a problem
B-SS 9: Demonstrate social maturity and behaviors appropriate to the situation and environment
B-SMS 10: Demonstrate ability to manage transitions and ability to adapt to changing situations and responsibilities

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
1. Describe what triggers their own strong emotions
2. Describe what happens in their brain and bodies when they experience strong emotions
3. Demonstrate the ability to interrupt escalating emotions
5. Identify and name strong feelings as they occur
6. Identify and demonstrate other Ways to Calm Down (counting, using positive self-talk)

MATERIALS: Soda Pop bottle, bowl, computer, Second Step belly breathing video, warning anger ahead worksheet, Julia Cook
Soda Pop Head book, coping skills pre and post test.

PROCEDURES:

1. Tell students we are going to learn about identifying what happens in our bodies when we have strong emotions. We need
to catch these feelings early so we don't “explode!” Speaking of exploding, I have a story to tell you about a friend I have
here named Mad Max.
2. Have students take coping skills pre-test
3. Go through story about Mad Max’s day, woke up to his mom yelling at him, didn’t get to eat his breakfast, his sister was
drawing on his favorite skateboard, late to the bus, did really poorly on a math test, another student accidently knocked
him down in the hallway - at this point mad max couldn’t take it anymore, he exploded on this student and made a poor
choice (what might some examples of poor choices be?) We only have a certain capacity for big feelings, and if we don’t
notice them when they are starting to build, we won’t be able to do anything until it’s too late. What signals do you think
Mad Max’s brain and body were giving him to let him know he was getting upset? (various answers)
Classroom Lesson Plans
PROCEDURES:

3. Read story Soda Pop Head by Julia Cook

4. Watch Calm down music video
5. Practice Belly breathing Second Step video
6. Talk to students about warning signs from the world and then what signs our bodies give us. Allow students to complete Warning
Anger Ahead worksheet. Students will copy anger signals from the back of the sheet to the front.
7. Encourage students to recognize this week how many times they were able to catch their anger signals and use belly breathing
to calm down. Check back next week to share any stories.

EVALUATION: Coping skills pre and post test, next week check back for success stories