FREE Tone of Voice SEL Activity for in Person or Distance Learning
A person’s tone of voice can instantly change the meaning to a word, phrase and sentence. This is why it is SO IMPORTANT to teach students about using a proper tone of voice.
In this quick mini lesson students will be able to choose an emotion to go along with a word of your choice. They will take turns guessing what emotion each of them portrays. In the end they will understand how meaningful tone of voice is and they will be able to come up with a class definition.
This FREEBIE includes:
- Tone of Voice definition poster in color
- Tone of Voice definition poster in black and white
- Printable word/ phrase cards in color
- Printable word/ phrase cards in black and white
- Printable emotions cards in color
- Printable emotions cards in black and white
- Digital slides where students click and drag to circle their emotion
This post will take you through everything you will need to know about this FREEBIE and how to use it in your in person, hybrid or online classroom. So if you’re ready, keep reading!
Easy Prep for this Teach Kindness: Tone of Voice Lesson
I have created a digital and printable lesson for you to easily teach your students about tone of voice in less than 15 minutes! I know the challenges of having a short amount of time to review SEL skills, which is why this mini activity packs a big punch. Best of all… the prep is super EASY!
Prep and Materials for Printable Lesson
If you are using this resource in your classroom, then you can print out…
- Tone of Voice definition poster in color or black and white
- Printable word/ phrase cards in color or black and white
- Printable emotions cards in color or black and white
The number of emotions cards you print is up to you! You can choose to make a set for each student, pair of students or just one for you.
Here is a list of materials that you may choose to use:
- Paper of your choice (white or color printer paper, white or color cardstock, etc.)
- Scissors
- Marker (to write your class definition on the tone of voice poster)
- Laminating sheets (optional to make cards more durable and reusable)
- Crayons or markers (optional if you choose to give a set of black and white emotions cards to each student)
Prep for Digital Lesson
To prep for this digital lesson all you have to do is decide which slides you want to use! I suggest using the:
- Tone of Voice definition poster in color
- Digital slides where students click and drag to circle their emotion
If you need directions on how to copy your selected slides into a separate google slide, then you can follow my directions in the section, “Easy Google Slides Instructions for this FREE Digital and Printable Tone of Voice Lesson.”
To use the digital slides simply have a student say the word using the emotion of their choice. Once students guess the emotion you or the student can circle the corresponding emotion picture using the circles from the “bank.”
Lesson Plan for this Tone of Voice Activity
This activity can be as short or long as you want to make it! Below is an overview of the steps to complete this lesson with your class.
1. Ask your students what they think, “tone of voice” means. Work together to brainstorm a class definition. Possible definitions:
- Using your voice to express different emotions
- The way a person chooses to speak to someone
- It’s not about what you say, it’s how you say it
2. Pick one of the words or phrases (no, okay, yes, I don’t care, etc.)
3. Ask each student to pick an emotion without telling anyone. Students can partner talk or the teacher can call on them to say the word/ phrase with their chosen emotion
4. Ask the other students to guess what emotion was being used by…
- Using their own facial expressions to show the emotion
- Using their fingers to show a 1, 2, 3 or 4
- Holding up the corresponding emotion card
5. Revisit your definition for “Tone of Voice” to see if students want to make changes. Write your class definition in the “Tone of Voice” poster and hang it in your class.
Tips to Making this Activity Short and Sweet
Like most teachers, my social emotional lessons always seem to get cut short with an overwhelming amount of academics I have to get to throughout the day. Here are some tips if you are on a tight schedule:
- Print and cut all of the cards ahead of time
- Have students pair up
- Choose only 4-5 words instead of all 12
Tips to Stretch Out this Activity if you Find Extra Time in Your Schedule
If you find that your students need more work on this SEL skill or you find a little extra room in your schedule then you can…
- Give students their own set of emotions cards and have them cut and color them
- Have students come up with the other emotions and words/ phrases to act out
- Give each student their own Tone of Voice definition poster to fill out at the end of the activity
Easy Google Slides Instructions for this FREE Digital and Printable Tone of Voice Lesson
If you are new here then you may not know that I am OBSESSED with Google Slides. You will find that all of the resources on this blog are made with Google Slides for a number of reasons…
1. You can create and edit resources on your Google Drive that automatically saves your work. Unlike most editable resources, this one SAVES the changes you make. This means if you are using the digital version and choose to type your class definition on the Tone of Voice poster in the beginning of the year, then you revisit this lesson a few months later the definition will still be there… YAY!
2. You can access all of my resources in your Google SLIDES so you never have to worry about losing or misplacing them.
3. Wherever you are (at home, in school, the library etc.) and whatever device (laptop, PC, Chromebook, Ipad, smartphone etc.) you can access Google Slides.
4. You can organize all of your files by subject or month and add my resources to whichever folder you see fit.
If you are already familiar with Google Slides, then you can scroll to the bottom of this post and click the rainbow button labeled, “CLICK HERE FOR FREEBIE,” to access this FREE and EDITABLE Teach Kindness: Tone of Voice Lesson. However, if you would like a quick step by step of how to use this resource, then keep reading!
Using Google Slides to Access this Free Digital and Printable Buckets
After downloading this product you can make a copy for yourself. This is super helpful because you can pick and choose which slides you want in your presentation. For example, you can split this resource into two separate copies… one Google Slide with all of the Digital resources and the other Google Slide with all of the printable resources.
1. Click the rainbow button labeled, “CLICK HERE FOR FREEBIE.”
2. Once the Google Slide opens in another tab, click on File → Make a Copy → Entire Presentation. Then, click the yellow button, “OK.”
3. Go ahead and delete any slides that you do not want in the presentation you just made. You can do this by clicking on the slide to highlight it, then then right mouse click and hit Delete.
P.S. – Don’t worry, you have the original downloaded in your Google Drive already so if you accidentally delete a page you can always go back in the original and copy and paste it into the slide.
4. If you are using the printable version, then go ahead and print the pages you want (make sure to select landscape in your printing settings) The Moment You’ve Been Waiting for… Click Below for this FREEBIE!
The Moment You’ve Been Waiting for… Click Below for this FREEBIE!
Click below to access this FREE Digital and Printable Bucket Filler Behavior Management Strategy. Read above in the section, “Using Google Slides to Access this Free Digital and Printable Buckets” if you need help navigating this resource with Google Slides!
