Learning Social Skills

My Students

On a typical day in my classroom you would see Students moving in and out of my classroom. They come for small group direct instruction in qualifying areas at their skill level. Some students even come to access support in using their problem-solving skills.

My students are diverse in cultures as well as learning styles.

They are first through fifth graders who are currently performing below grade level and require extra support in academics as well as social skills. They are wonderful, hard-working students, who would love access to materials and children’s literature that will help them improve their social skills. They tend to struggle expressing themselves in an appropriate manner because they have not yet mastered skills such as asking for help, making an apology, using brave talk, dealing with mistakes, using self-control, and dealing with an accusation. They need the Skillstreaming curriculum and children's literature such as "What If Everybody Did That?," "My Mouth is a Volcano," and "Sorry, I Forgot to Ask!: My Story About Asking Permission and Making an Apology" to help them learn and develop their social skills.

My Project

With these resources in my classroom, students will be able to access direct instruction for specific social skills. They will be able to role-play situations with their peers that require them to practice using the social skills they are learning using the Skillstreaming curriculum. Skill posters will be used to allow students to reference the steps involved in each skill as they learn and practice the skills. Through children's literature such as "Wilma Jean the Worry Machine," "Sorry, I Forgot to Ask!: My Story About Asking Permission and Making an Apology," and "I Just Want to Do It My Way!: My Story About Staying on Task and Asking for Help" students will listen to and read stories that depict the specific social skills they are learning. Students will gain an understanding of how the characters in these stories struggle with the same skills they do and how they are able to overcome their problems using their newly learned social skills.

These materials will change my students’ lives for the better by allowing them to improve their social skills through direct instruction lessons as well as with the use of children’s literature that depicts specific skills they are working on.

Once students have been taught these skills they will then be able to work on generalizing them into their daily lives in order the get their needs met appropriately.