K1 Activity 4 – Draw Your Inner Weather

Core Freedom: Freedom To Feel Our Own Feelings

Introduction

Often students are more receptive to drawing their feelings than talking about them. It might be sunny outside the window, but what is the weather like inside them today? Invite them to draw it. In this activity, students will explore how their inner weather is feeling through the use of art materials.

Description

Students explore how different emotions are similar to different kinds of weather, and create drawings that show their emotions as a type of weather.

Principle Overview

The 8 Core Freedoms of IM4U are the hallmarks of who we are as individuals and members of a group. In a way, they are our “Bill of Rights.” As individuals, we are free to be ourselves, to perceive in our own way, to feel our feelings, to think our thoughts, to make our own decisions, to communicate as we do, to take action, and to interact with others in our own unique way. The different elements of the IM4U Program are designed to teach students the conscious application of freedoms for the benefit of all.

Materials:

Smile In The Sky song

Smile In The Sky lyrics

Drawing paper

Chart paper

Crayons or markers

Journals (optional)

Goals and Objectives:

Build self-observation skills by naming and drawing their feelings.

Develop a positive outlook by recognizing their emotions can change.

Be sure to introduce The 8 Core Freedoms before using this activity. See Promoting the Principle for a suggested way to introduce the Core Freedoms.
Of The 8 Core Freedoms, this activity focuses on The Freedom To Feel Our Own Feelings. Feel free to use The 8 Core Freedoms poster as a reference.
Check out Promoting the Principle for Unit 7 for ideas for how to showcase student pictures in the classroom to create an Inner Weather display.
Students might like to create Inner Weather Journals with a daily drawing of their feelings expressed as weather, which can be inserted into a binder.

The skill builder You, Me, And We helps students notice that friendship is built on similarities and differences. Embracing others’ similarities and differences allows everyone to feel connected as friends. As students collaborate and use kind words (Respect- SEL Concept) they notice something different about one another (Diversity-SEL Concept). This allows students to experience more diverse perspectives and adds to their understanding of community. Students can begin to appreciate the qualities that make each of us special and how working together can benefit all.

You might ask the students to think about and share how being aware of their own “inner weather” and the “inner weather” of others can help them be a better friend. (Connect Kindness-SEL Concept here).
- You might ask: How would you help if you knew a friend was feeling stormy or cloudy? How could you show kindness to your friend?

Skill Builder

Use these visual resources to enhance the student experience in this unit.

View In Resources

Activity Steps

Connector.
One of The 8 Core Freedoms is The Freedom To Feel. Share with students how YOU are feeling today. You could use a weather metaphor such as cloudy, sunny or stormy to help get the activity going. We are all free to feel our own feelings!
Connector.
Ask students to brainstorm different emotions and write them on chart paper. Ask: What kind of weather day would “happy” look like? Go through the list of emotions.
Connector.
Invite students to share how they feel today. Ask:

Does it feel like you are having a sunny, cloudy, or foggy day?
Connector.
Play the Smile In The Sky song as students draw pictures of how their inner weather looks today.
Connector.
After the song, invite students to show their drawings and share. They might even pretend they are being their own weather reporter as they tune in to view their inner sun, clouds, rain or snow.

Previous Activity

Skill Builder

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