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    Saturday, July 14, 2012

    Social Story Saturday #1--Being a Good Friend (FREEBIES!)

    Download my FREE Being a Good Friend Social Story and Choices Sorting Mat!

    I look forward to connecting with you and sharing SpEd Spot tips and FREEBIES!

      Now that I have more time, I have been able to put together some FREEBIE sorts for all of my followers so stay tuned each week for Social Story Saturday where I will be posting a social story and sort.

      For my first Social Story Freebie I have chosen to share my Being a Good Friend Social Story. This one was especially important a couple years ago in my classroom because I had several girls who could be quite catty! You will find that my social stories are very simple and just outline the basic do's and don'ts related to that topic. Feel free to toss any pages that you feel don't apply to your kiddos. 


      Social Story


      For each social story, I also made sorting cards. The sorts then give a bunch of "good" and "bad" choices for students to sort. I typically have them sort them when debriefing. I have included a free sorting mat where students can cut out the sorting cards and paste them in the correct area. However, I use these often and I prefer students do the sort quickly so they can return to class so I made reuseable sorts.




      To make the sorts reusable, I printed the sorting cards on cardstock and laminated them. Then, I attached velcro to the back of each card. Next, I used a long file folder and made one side "good choices" and the other side "bad choices" (you can use the sorting mat headers below as the folder headers... that's what I did!). I made an extra copy of the social story book cover and used it as the sorting folder cover. Then, I laminated the file folder and put velcro dots on the inside under each heading.


      Now grab this as part of my Social Story Bundle on TPT!



      9 comments:

      Lacey said...

      I love this!!! Can't wait to see social story Saturdays!!!

      Lacey
      Challenges Make Life Interesting

      Allison Officer, M.S.Ed said...

      Lacey, I'm so glad to see other educators finding my social stories and sorts helpful!

      Unknown said...

      Hi Miss Allison! I just came across your blog this afternoon! I will be starting my first year as a new K-4th Life Skills teacher this year. I have enjoyed looking at all of your ideas! If it is okay with you, I think I would like to use your "Being a Good Friend" social story on the first day of school. I don't really follow blogs, but I will definitely be coming back to yours!
      Thank you for all the wonderful ideas!

      Allison Officer, M.S.Ed said...

      Krystal- Welcome! And congrats on your new position! Of course you can use this social story with your kiddos! That's what it's here for! Check out some of my other social stories and resources. I hope you find lots of useful stuff!

      Mr. Lawrence said...

      Hi Miss Allison!
      I was googling for lesson ideas on being a good friend, and clicked on your link... I'm loving it!!! :) I can't wait to see what you're going to put up on your blog next.
      Is it alright if I use your resources for my lesson? I'm doing my final teaching prac in Australia this semester at a Pre-Primary level (equal to Kindy in the U.S.).

      Thank you so much for putting this up!

      Kind regards,
      Bianca

      Allison Officer, M.S.Ed said...

      Hi Bianca! You are certainly welcome to use any of my freebies in your lessons. Thanks for reading!

      Katherine said...

      Miss Allison:
      I am a Kindergarten teacher with a 4 year old boy who has difficulty when he doesn't win. He usually hits or pushes them. When I saw the card for "race" I thought I might use that as a "good choice" , and then to say racing is okay, but not to hit. I could use a shaking hand card to say "Good race".

      However on the last page of your social story, Being a good friend, I see you have put "I do not try to beat my friends". As children get older (especially boys) they become more competitive. Any suggestions how to teach children how to deal with competition as they will face it. Do you think I should tell children in my class not to race?

      Thanks,
      Katherine

      Allison Officer, M.S.Ed said...

      Hi Katherine!
      In my experience, I was having a certain student race to be first in line, get a certain chair at the table, or special spot on the carpet. This particular student knew they would upset other classmates by beating them to the spot and this tended to be the motivation. In general, racing in the classroom for me was leading to students running and upsetting one another so I was trying to discourage it. Racing in gym class or on the playground would be different. What I was seeing at the time of writing this was not the friendly competition that you are referring to which I agree needs to be taught and practiced. For my students who have struggled with wanting to win I have started with adults playing games one-on-one with them and sometimes they would win and sometimes I would win. We would practice how to act in both scenarios. Once they had success with me/para/SLP, I would start introducing it in a small group. I would suggest reviewing good sportsmanship before the game begins. They may need a script for how to react when they win and if they do not win. Giving some guidance on how to handle the outcome can relieve some of the stress involved. I hope this helps! Thanks for reading!Allison

      Unknown said...

      Thank you so much for this:) I am a first year teacher (during COVID) so I just don't have time to create my own materials right now. Appreciate it so much!