Welcome Back!

Hello Parents and Teachers!
We're so excited to be back in lunch group again this year! The kids are having fun bringing some new friends and learning about each other. This month we worked on a couple of different skills.
We started off with basic conversation and conversational rules. Wow! We have really improved at  staying on topic, making comments on topic and asking our friends questions. We have been using our "conversation tree" as a visual representation for what our conversation looks like. If someone has a lot of their colored sticks on the tree, they might be talking too much (e.g. One Sided Sid!) and need to pass the conversation off by asking a friend a questions.  If someone has no sticks, they might need to get in on the discussion. We are just going to continue practicing these skills all year. We also worked on asking for help.  This is such an important skill and was definitely a challenge. We read some scenarios and had to think about who to ask for help, how to ask for help, and what to say. Then, we role played in group to practice. We will keep working on this skill as well. As always, we are always working to act more like Superflex and less like the Unthinkables! Superflex came to visit in class last week and talked all about defeating Brain Eater. We can do this by using one these strategies:
-put external distractors away or move away from whatever is distracting you
-change your brain channel and think about the "group plan"
-keep your brain in the group (think about what the group is talking about)
-remember, "if I stay focused now, I can think about or do fun things later"

Thanks Parents and Teachers for continuing to support our students with social cognitive skills!!

April 15, 2018

Hello Families!
Well, I'm not sure what happened to the last couple of months, but they flew by!  I apologize for not posting, but hopefully your third grader is filling you in with what we have been working on!  In January and February, Mrs. Dusel and I targeted "study skills" or "student skills." These skills include: doing your homework, staying organized, participating in class, engaging in partner/group work, putting forth your best effort, and setting goals. We reminded students that while focusing on all of these skills, we always try to remember to identify what Zone we are in and try to defeat the Unthinkables! Here are some of the anchor charts we discussed:

In March we started reviewing BIG problem/little problem. Mrs. Hintz also targeted this in class! We spent some time reading social scenarios in lunch group, identifying what size the problem is and trying to figure out some expected versus unexpected reactions students may have. We also always discuss what others may be thinking or feeling during these situations (perspective taking!). By talking about social situations, this helps build student's awareness of all the social problem solving they really have to do throughout their days. Mrs. Dusel and I also share our own personal stories about problems we encounter throughout our days. The students really enjoy hearing that they are NOT alone in running into problems and that even teachers can get in the red, yellow or blue zones. We really want them to know that all zone colors are okay, but that we have to work to figure out how to get back to green zone. Dinner time is a great time to discuss some of your own social situations you have encountered throughout your day. 

Overall, the kids have been working hard and we are so proud of all their growth!