Social Thinking and Inclusion Part 2

I posted back in October about the Social Thinking lessons I used with the "You're a Social Detective" book. I thought it might be helpful to post about what I've used so far with the Superflex series.

We are slowly working our way through "Superflex takes on Rock Brain and the Unthinkables" and the teaching manual.

Starting Out:
First, I decided to add some additional lessons on our "Smart Guess Tools" because most of the classes really struggled to provide much information in each section. I modeled it for them using their ideas and explained that all of the writing I did were things that they told me. We watched the majority of It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! For students who don't celebrate Halloween, I picked You're a Good Sport, Charlie Brown.  I picked these videos because the cartoon drawings force the students to pay more attention to the characters than some of the Pixar.

The first two actual Superflex lessons consisted of reading the book to the class using the wonderful document cameras. We talked about things that we saw. We used the handouts in the manual to talk about things that are flexible/unflexible thinking. I also gave each student a mini-poster of Rock Brain for their notebooks.

Rock Brain Videos:
Smart Guess Handout (scroll to the end section for the chart with the smart guess tools). They complete this diagram for each video clip that I show them.
1. I think the Pixar Glued video is pretty self-explanatory.

Brain Function:
If you can get a copy of Your Fantastic Elastic Brain, I would start with this book as it talks about the different areas of the brain and their roles.

1. I show the first 5 or so minutes of Bill Nye the Science Guy's brain episode. The kids seem to enjoy it and I like the different little segments.

After watching this video, I used the smartboard to talk about the brain's functions in three different categories: physical movement, social smarts, and school smarts. I make it a point to tell them that some jobs can be in more than one of these categories.

2. Opening Scene of Inside Out- This way we can briefly talk about our memory and emotions

We then create a giant poster of the brain and list some of the functions that fall into each of the three categories that we learned about the session before. (I'll try to upload some photos of these soon.)

Superflexible Strategies:
For the next set of lessons, I used the cartoons in the Appendix of the teaching manual. These depict the 6 Superflexible Strategies that defeat Rock Brain. I have the students help me re-write these strategies in their own words so that they have a copy in their notebooks. We are now talking about how the characters in the videos could have used these strategies.

1. Dug's Special Mission- Mean Jean & Rock Brain
2. Bugs Bunny: Chessmaster- Mean Jean, Rock Brain, Destroyer of Fun
3. Stuck on an Escalator- Size of the Problem, Rock Brain.
4. Taking Turns Speaking- Staying on Topic/taking turns, Rock Brain
5. Making Connected Comments- Staying on Topic/taking turns, Rock Brain, & Topictwistmister
6. Joining a Conversation Unexpected and Joining a Conversation Expected- Mean Jean, Topic twistmister, Blurt Out Blue, Collider
7. Starting an Individual Conversation Unexpected and Starting an Individual Conversation Expected- Rock Brain, Mean Jean
8. Swamp Talk with Shrek and Donkey: Interrupting Donkey and Swamp Talk with Shrek and Donkey: Sorry Not Sorry- Blurt Out Blue, Collider, Glassman, Mean Jean, Size of the Problem, and Interrupting
9. The Full Meltdown- Glassman, Mean Jean, Rock Brain, Size of the Problem

Review Practice Videos
1. Back to School Bus Safety- Using smart guess tools/making predictions and identifying Unthinkables
2. Fast Food- Using smart guess tools and identifying Unthinkables

Extra Videos that Might Be Helpful

Conversations
1. Two-way Conversations: Asking Open Ended Questions
2. Appropriate Two-way Conversations
3. Two-way Conversations- Don't Be a Broken Record
4. Don't Be a Conversation Hog
5. Two-way Conversations- Volume Control

Think before you speak
1. Social Skills video- Think it, don't say it

Multiple Meaning Words with a Twist

I guess the only thing consistent about my blogging right now is my inconsistency. Life is never dull in my neck of the woods. I have several family issues going on right now and I've found it easier to deal with if I leave speech at the doors of my school every day. It's become all the more important after a recent hike in caseload numbers that have pushed me above the state cap. (NC has a caseload cap of 50.) 

While I haven't made too many materials lately, I thought that this one is just too good not to share for those of you with older students. I made this for my fifth grade groups as it's a pretty quick game that I can take into their classrooms. 

Multiple Meaning Word KaBoom!

If you haven't run across any teachers in your school using this, you are likely to start a new trend at your school. KaBoom is a great game that I saw teachers using in their centers. You can make a KaBoom game for pretty much anything you might need. The best part is that the game NEVER ends.

How to Play Kaboom!

1.  First student pulls out a card.

2.  The student tells you an answer. If their answer is correct, they get to keep the card.  If they answer it incorrectly, the card must go back in the cup.

3.  The students continue around the table, selecting one card at a time and answering their question.

4.  Any student who pulls a KABOOM! card has to place all of the cards they have accumulated back into the cup, leaving them with zero.

5.  This game NEVER ENDS because eventually someone will get a Kaboom! and their cards will go back into the cup to keep the game going.

Grab your copy of Multiple Meaning Word Kaboom! here!