Whimsy Workshop Teaching

Teacher Clip Art, Literary Resources, Classroom Ideas

Teaching Social Skills with Social Stories

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WHAT ARE SOCIAL STORIES?
Do you use social stories in your classroom?
Social stories are simple stories that describe common situations which occur frequently in the classroom.
Social stories:

state a situation clearly
possible feelings that may occur
self-talk strategies that can be helpful
the desired outcomes.

These stories have been especially helpful for my younger students, students with autism, or students with self-regulation problems.
Over the last 20+ years of teaching, I have seen many students struggle to navigate the complex social situations in the classroom. The many [Read More…]

Top 20 Tips for an Organized Classroom

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Why Get Organized?
Why should teachers care about being organized? Whether you are naturally organized or not, using simple tips to be organized can make or break your teaching day!
Many years ago our staff participated in a district professional development presentation where we all had to take a personality test. The purpose was to demonstrate that we all had very different strengths and learning styles, and so would our students!

The one thing almost all of the teachers had in common was [Read More…]

Teaching Social Skills: Daily Group Lessons

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Using Morning Meetings for Teaching Social Skills

Even though social skills are so important, it’s often difficult to fit the lessons in each day. When they do happen, it’s often in reaction to a conflict that has occurred, and there’s usually not much time to really discuss the topic thoroughly.
Last year, I tried a different approach. I thought, if I could begin each day with a ten-minute talk with my students about class routines and expected behavior, I’d be more likely [Read More…]

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