Social Skills Text Set
By Ally Bogen
Rational
This text set could be used in any of the primary grades, I created it with second grade in mind. It is intended for young student who are still learning about social skills or for older students who need to improve their social skills. Social skills are an important topic to teach in school that often get overlooked. Some children need to be explicitly taught about social skills and if they are not problems may arise. It can be a challenge to work with students who do not have social skills, when students are taught social skills it improves their chances of success.
Fiction:
I Can't Believe You Said That! My Story About Using My Social Filter... Or Not! Written by Julia Cook Illustrated by Kelsey DeWeerd
This book is the focus or anchor text for this text set.
Summary:
This book follows a young boy who keeps getting in trouble for saying rude things that are true. He does not understand why he keeps getting in trouble though, his parents explain to him that he needs to use a social filter when talking. They tell him that even though it is true he does not need to say things if they will hurt people’s feelings. After the boy’s parents explain how to use his social filter he stops getting in trouble for saying mean things.
Teaching points:
· Reading First Strategy: Text Comprehension Instruction
· Standard: RL.2.3 – Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.
· Area of Language Arts: Reading and Listening
· Objective: Students will be able to explain how the main character learned how to use their social filter.
· This book could be read when students are having trouble with being mean to others. The teacher could read the story then have the student role play different scenarios where their social filters are needed.
§ Publisher: Boys Town Press. ISBN: 978-1-934490-67-9 Pages: 30 Genre: realistic fiction.
§ Cook, J. (2014). I Can’t Believe you Just Said That!: My Story about Using My Social Filter. Illustrated by K. DeWeerd. Boys Town, NE: Boys Town Press.
Listen Buddy Written by Helen Lester Illustrated by Lynn Munssinger
Summary:
This is book is about a young rabbit who does not listen very well. Whenever his parents ask him to do something he always does something different because he was not listening. One day he went out and forgot the way he was supposed to go because he was not listening. He ended up at a cave with a bear, the bunny wanted to help the bear make soup. The bear let him help, however because the bunny was not a good listener the bear got upset and tried to eat the young bunny. The young bunny barely escaped, after that he started to really listen to people because he learned how important active listening is.
Teaching Points:
· Reading First Strategy: Text Comprehension Instruction
· Standards: RL.2.5 – Describe the overall structure of a story, including describing how the beginning introduces the story and the ending concludes the action.
· Area of Language Arts: Reading and Listening
· Objective: Students will be able to describe how the main character learned the importance of listening.
· This book could be used when students are having a hard time being active listeners. The teacher could read this book then have the students follow a recipe that requires them to use their active listening skills. After they have created something they could determine if they followed instructions correctly and used their active listening skills.
§ Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. ISBN: 978-0-544-00322-4 Pages: 30 Genre: Children’s literature
§ Lester, L. (1995). Listen, Buddy. Illustrated by L. Munsinger. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
Me First Written by Helen Lester Illustrated by Lynn Munssinger
Summary:
This book is about a pig who likes to be first for everything. The pig always cuts in line, races to be in the beginning, and yells out about being first. The pig wanted to be first to get a sandwich and when he got there he realized he was there first for a sand witch instead. The sand witch made the pig work and help her with all of her chores. The little pig did not like this at all and realized that he does not need to be first all of the time. He learned that it is okay to not be first for everything and that he needs to take turns.
Teaching points:
· Reading First Strategy: Text Comprehension Instruction
· Standard: RL.2.3 – Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.
· Area of Language Arts: Reading and Listening
· Objective: Students will be able to defend why it is not important to be first at everything and why it is important to take turns.
· This book could be read to students when they are having trouble taking turns. The teacher could read this book then have the student’s play a game that requires them to take turns. For example they could play a game where they make a class story and everyone contributes one sentence. The students would have to take turns creating their sentences and politely let others take their turns as well.
§ Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company ISBN: 978-0-544-00321-7 Pages: 30 Genre: Children’s literature
§ Lester, L. (1992). Me First. Illustrated by L. Munsinger. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
Visual/Illustrated:
Cool Down and Work Through Anger By Cheri Meiners
Summary:
This book explains what anger is and what it feels like. It also explains ways to handle anger. As well as what to do if you get angry and act on that anger. It is a great tool to teach children how to handle anger. The pictures throughout clearly depict the text.
Teaching points:
· Reading First Strategy: Text Comprehension Instruction
· Standard: RI.2.6 – Identify the main purpose of a text, including what the author wants to answer, explain, or describe.
· Area of Language Arts: Reading and Listening
· Objective: Students will be able to determine how to deal with anger and why it is important.
· This book could be read to students who have lots of distracting outbursts in class. After they read the book they could come up with a couple things that make them angry then determine ways to prevent that anger from occurring.
§ Publisher: Free Spirit INC. ISBN: 978-1-57442-346-3 Pages: 31 Genre: Informational
§ Meiners, C. Cool down and work through anger. Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit Publishing.
The Invisible Boy Written by Trudy Ludwig Illustrated by Patrice Barton
Summary:
This story is about a young boy who feels like he is invisible because he has no friends and does not receive much attention. His class get a new student who he becomes friends with and it helps him to feel less invisible. This book shows the importance of acts of kindness towards other people. As well as the importance of including people.
Teaching Points:
· Reading First Strategy: Text Comprehension Instruction
· Standard: RL.2.1 – Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.
· Area of Language Arts: Reading and Listening
· Objective: Student will be able to explain the importance of the key details of this story.
· This book could be used when students are being excluded in the class, or even when students are having trouble being nice to each other. This book could be read to the class. Then the students could work with a partner who they don’t normally work with to create a game that includes everyone that they could play at recess.
§ Publisher: Random House Inc. ISBN:978-0-449-81820-6 Pages: 30 Genre: Children’s literature
§ Ludwig, T. (2013). The Invisible Boy. Illustrated by P. Barton. New York: Random House Inc.
Wilma Jean the Worry Machine Written by Julia Cook Illustrated by Anita Dufalla
Summary:
This story is about a young girl who seems to worry about everything. Her mom notices that all of her worrying is becoming a problem so she talks to her teacher about ways they can help her. Then the young girl, her mom, and her teacher have a meeting to help her with all of her worries. She learns strategies to prevent and get rid of her worries. She even learns what to do if she still has worries sometimes.
Teaching point:
· Reading First Strategy: Text Comprehension Instruction
· Standard: RL.2.3 – Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.
· Area of Language Arts: Reading and Listening
· Objective: Students will be able to assess how the main character responded to her worries.
· This book could be read to the students at a time where there is a lot of stress, like the beginning of the school year. After the book is read the students could try and organize their worries like Wilma Jean did in the story to help them to get rid of their worries.
§ Publisher: National Center for Youth Issues ISBN: 978-1-937870-01-0 Pages: 32 Genre: Children’s literature
§ Cook, J. (2013). Wilma Jean the Worry Machine. Illustrated by A. DuFalla. Chattanooga, TN: National Center for Youth Issues.
Non-fiction:
Join In and Play By Cheri Meiners
Summary:
This book explains how to play with others, it goes over how to ask to join others and how to invite others to play. It also talks about what to do when things aren't going your way it and explains multiple different scenarios. This book would be really helpful for students who have trouble playing with others.
Teaching points:
· Reading First Strategy: Text Comprehension Instruction
· Standard: RI.2.6 – Identify the main purpose of a text, including what the author wants to answer, explain, or describe.
· Area of Language Arts: Reading and Listening
· Objective: Students will be able to determine and defend the importance of including others.
· This book is a great book to read in the beginning of the year or when students are not being included in the class. The teacher could read this book to the class then have each student come up with a creative way to make sure everyone is included.
§ Publisher: Free Spirit INC. ISBN: 1-57542-152-6 Pages: 31 Genre: nonfiction/ informational
§ Meiners, C. (2004) join in and play. Minneapolis, MN: free spirt publishing inc.
Meditation Is an Open Sky: Mindfulness for Kids Written by Whitney Stewart Illustrated by Sally Rippin
Summary:
This is a book that teaches children how to meditate. It teaches them different kinds of meditation for different situations and how it can be helpful to them and how it help them to calm down. It also explains to students about what meditation is.
Teaching points:
· Reading First Strategy: Text Comprehension Instruction and Vocabulary
· Standard: RI.2.3 – Describe the connection between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text.
· Area of Language Arts: Reading and Listening
· Objective: Students will be able to describe the steps of meditation and its purpose.
· This book could be read to the whole class to help them learn ways to calm themselves. Young students are often full of energy and easily get worked up over things. The teacher could read this book to the class. After that the students could pick one of the meditation techniques and practice it. Then the students could explain to their peers if t they think this is a strategy they might use in the future.
§ Publisher: Albert Whitman and Company ISBN: 978-0-8075-4908-7 Pages: 31 Genre: nonfiction self help
§ Stewart, W. (2014) Meditation is an Open Sky. Illustrated by S. Rippin. Melbourne, Australia: Albert Whitman & Company.
When My Worries Get Too Big! By Kari Dunn Buron
Summary:
This book is a book that is designed to help students, teachers and parents. It provides information for teachers explaining the research and importance of these techniques. It also has a part for children. This part explains worries to students and helps to show the students what causes their worries. It provides techniques for the students to use to help calm their worries. It also provides resource for the students to use to help them remember this information.
Teaching points:
· Reading First Strategy: Text Comprehension Instruction
· Standard: RI.2.6 – Identify the main purpose of a text, including what the author wants to answer, explain, or describe.
· Area of Language Arts: Reading, Listening, and Critical Thinking
· Objective: Students will be able to describe ways to calm their worries and why it is important to know how to calm themselves.
· Students who have trouble controlling their anxiety could read this book and fill out the worksheets associated with it. After they do this they could explain to their teacher they ways they came up with to calm themselves and why they chose them.
§ Publisher: AAPC Publishing ISBN: 978-1-937473-80-8 Pages: 55 Genre: nonfiction/ self help
§ Buron, K. (2013) When my worries get too big!: A relaxation book for children who live with anxiety. Shawnee Mission, KS: AACP Publishing.
Alternative:
Ish Written by Peter Reynolds Produced by Chester Gregory
Summary:
Ish is about a young boy who loves to draw. His brother makes fun of his drawings though and this causes him to feel like he should stop drawing because he's not good enough. The young boy’s sister helps him to realize that it does not matter what their big brother thinks and that his drawing don't have to be perfect. All that matters is that he likes what he is doing.
Teaching points:
· Reading First Strategy: Text Comprehension Instruction
· Standard: SL.2.2 – Recount or describe key ideas or details from a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media.
· Area of Language Arts: Viewing
· Objective: Students will be able to justify the importance of being yourself.
· This book would be good to read to the whole class to encourage creativity and individuality. This book could be read to the class and then the class could write a creative story with illustrations. This would encourage independent thinking.
§ Publisher: Weston Woods (It is a movie based off of the book) Genre: children's literature and motivational
§ Gregory, C. (Director), & W. (Producer). (2005). Ish [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/11598052
Additional Resources
Learning to Get Along books and standards: http://www.freespirit.com/common-core-state-standards/
Lesson Ideas for The Invisible Boy for upper elementary: http://www.trudyludwig.com/images/The_InvisibleBoy_CCLessons.pdf
Meditation Instructions for Kids: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CdPQ7X1MzU
Wilma Jean the Worry Machine lesson: http://schoolcounselingconnections.blogspot.com/2015/08/anxiety-group-wilma-jean-worry-machine.html?m=1
10 social skills everyone should know: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/AeNnCiWxgQUVbDAB2qbKf-im0QR3TYuP-ZJyI7gyDnjZ0pSkAXYL1bD4lh05zZm0H-u1Sc3lSnWjWFmQt2PABGs/
5 Steps to Managing Big Emotion: http://childhood101.com/2015/03/helping-children-manage-big-emotions/