Social Skills Week Six (Dec.) - God Made Me Special
In our final week of social skills group, we focused on the unique qualities that God gave to each one of us and how we can use those qualities to live out our purpose.
Cool in School boys (12/2) - we reviewed everything we had learned in group. Students listed their favorite topic and demonstrated that skill to the group. We played a few games to emphasize those skills - Simon Says (listening and emotions), Mother May I (following directions and manners), and Emotion Charades. We read Designed by God. Each student choose a few attributes that God gave to them, and we shared these with the group.
Success as if By Magic (12/3) - This was performance day. Each student chose a magic trick to demonstrate to the group, along with the accompanying “lesson”. Performing in front of peers allowed us to work on self-confidence and communication, and being an audience allowed us to practice respectful listening. I was so pleased with each of their demonstrations! Each boy managed to convey an appropriate “lesson” along with the magic trick they performed. At the end of class we learned two quick magic tricks - the changing dice (some things you can’t change, but some things - attitudes - you can) and the disappearing box (getting rid of bad habits and attitudes).
Cool in School girls (12/11) - we reviewed everything we had learned in group. Students listed their favorite topic and demonstrated that skill to the group. We read Designed by God. Students drew a picture and labeled it with talents or characteristics that God gave them.
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Social Skills Week Five (Nov.) - Responsible Behavior
This week in groups we are focusing on the decisions that we make and how to make decisions that are pleasing to God and that also allow us to grow in wisdom.
Cool in School boys (11/25) - We read “Boys Wanted” from The Book of Children’s Virtues. The boys then drew a picture of the type of boy God wanted them to be. Then we played with the decision cards. Each boy drew a random scenario and acted out what he would/should do in each situation (i.e. You are watching your favorite TV show. Your mom tells you to turn it off and come to dinner. You…)This allowed us to practice decision making, reacting to others with empathy, and assertiveness.
Success as if By Magic (11/19) - The week in Success we are going to discuss self-control by reviewing and playing part of the Chill Out game throughout the office: microsoft-word-chill-out-game1. But the bulk of our time focused on responsible and respectful behavior. The magic trick to emphasize this behavior is the rising ruler. Students learn how to make a ruler rise from the palm of one’s hand with each demonstration of responsible behavior. We used the decision-making cards (see Cool in School boys) to choose and demonstrate responsible reactions. The secret is to attach a rubber band to a ring or to the child’s finger. Place the botttom of the ruler into the open end of the rubber band and push it down. Hold the ruler with the thumb, while the palm faces AWAY from the audience. The thumb carefully releases its grip, which allows the ruler to rise. NOTE - students are warned that those who shoot the rubber band at people will not be allowed to participate in this trick.
Cool in School Girls (12/4) - We read “There Was a Little Girl” from The Book of Children’s Virtues and talked about making good decisions. Then we played with the decision cards. Each girl pulled a random scenario and acted out what she would/should do in each situation (i.e. You are watching your favorite TV show. Your mom tells you to turn it off and come to dinner. You…)This allowed us to practice decision making, reacting to others with empathy, and assertiveness.
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Social Skills Week Four (Nov.) - Chill Out
In your anger, do not sin…Psalm 4:4a
This is a tough rule to follow! I teach kids that God gave us our emotions, and our emotions help us know what to do. But it can be hard to know how to react when angry! This week we will talk about and practice how to respond when angry. We will also play the “Chill Out” game - microsoft-word-chill-out-game
Cool in School boys (Tues. 11/18) - We read When I Feel Angry. The boys went on a scavenger hunt to find anger management strategies throughout my office. Then we acted out feeling angry and managing the anger by taking deep breaths, counting to ten, exercising, relaxing, and praying. We ended group by playing the “Chill Out” game across my office.
Success as if by Magic (Wed. 11/12) - Students had the opportunity to demonstrate the “cut up banana” trick. We talked about how anger can hurt us inside if we don’t manage it correctly. Students went on an office “scavenger hunt” to find ways to manage anger, several of which we practiced in group - deep breathing, counting to ten, exercising, relaxing, talking about it. We played the “Chill Out” game. Today’s magic trick is to apply the magic penny trick in your own life - students are to work on changing their angry or sad feelings to feelings of contentment.
Cool in School girls (Thurs. 11/13) - We read When I Feel Angry and practiced ways mentioned in the book to maintain self control when angry or upset (taking deep breaths, relaxing, exercising, talking about it, praying, counting to ten). We divided into teams and played the “Chill Out” game. We also played “angry potato”. Whoever had the stuffed animal when the music stopped acted out a way to chill out.
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Social Skills Week Three (Nov.) - Managing Emotions
This sessoin in social skills groups we are transitioning from recognizing emotions to managing emotions. The ability to identify feelings and to appropriately deal with those feelings is one of the most important aspects of emotional intelligence and interpersonal success. This week touches on anger management, self-control and emotional responsibility - issues that we will continue to practice in depth next week.
Cool in School boys (11/11/08) - We started group by reading My Many Colored Days by Dr. Suess. Then we played another round of emotion charades and began working on things we could do to change our emotions from sad, mad, or scared to content (happy). Students were shown and then learned the magic penny trick, in which the penny changes from one emotion to another. They also learned the angry banana trick, in which the banana’s angry emotions “cuts himself up”. This will lead into next week’s focus on managing anger and self-control.
Success as if by Magic (11/5/08) - Group members demonstrated last week’s magic trick - the magic penny - and we discussed ways to change the mad (sad, scared, silly) penny to a happy penny. Then we moved into talking about how our thoughts connect with our feelings. This week’s magic trick is the All Cut Up Banana, which demonstrates what happens when false thoughts take over our emotions. This lesson will move us into anger management and self-control next week. (Parents - the key to this trick is to poke a straightened paper clip through the back of the banana. Then use the paper clip to carefully slice the inside of the banana. The banana will appear untouched, but inside it will be all cut up.)
Cool in School girls (11/6/08) - We read My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss. Then students colored pictures of how they felt today, how they feel when sad, when happy, and how they want to feel tomorrow. We played with the magic penny and practiced ways to change our emotions (just like the magic penny).
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Social Skills Week Two (Oct.) - Emotional IQ
Daniel Golman’s (1995) research into emotional intelligence identified key elements that contribute to interpersonal success. By developing and using these elements of emotional intelligence, students have the capacity to increase their emotional IQ. This week (10/27 - 10/29) in social skills groups, we are focusing on the skills of knowing one’s emotions and recognizing the emotions of others. As Bodine and Crawford (1999) wrote, “Emotional self-awareness is…the cornerstone of emotional intelligence, serving as a building block for the other fundamentals of emotional intelligence.”
Cool in School boys (Tue. Oct 27) - Emotional identification is also important for the young children. While empathy (the ability to recognize and understand the feelings of others) increases as children mature, young children are able to learn about their own feelings and the feelings of others. Developing this skill at a young age will positively impact their school experience. We read the book Do Unto Otters by Laurie Keller and played emotion charades. Emotion charades is a great game to work on emotional awareness. An instructional sheet on how to play can be retrieved below. We also drew a feeling face.
Success (Wed. Oct 29) - We begin this group by reviewing last week’s magic trick - catching invisible stones. Several of the boys are great at this! We then moved on to emotions and the importance emotions play in all of our lives - even the lives of boys. We played “Emotion Charades” (see below for game instructions). Many of the boys were great at acting out certain emotions and guessing the emotions of others. This week’s magic trick is the “Magic Penny” in which students will change the penny’s emotional state. This is a fun trick that draws lots of “oohs and aahs”, but that also has important real-world applications, showing us that we can change our emotions.
Cool in School girls (Thurs. Oct 30) - Many girls, even young girls, are adept at recognizing emotion in others. This is a skill that should be nurtured and around which boundaries should be placed (we control our emotions, no one else’s). We read the book Do Unto Otters by Laurie Keller, played Emotion Charades, and drew a feeling face.
Link to Emotion Charades word document: emotion-charades
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Social Skills Week One (Oct) - Social Rules
This past week in all three groups - Cool in School boys, Success as if By Magic, and Cool in School girls - we discussed the visible and INVISIBLE rules for getting along with others. Some of the invisible (not written down) rules we talked about and role played were: listening, personal space, eye contact, saying hello and introducing self. This was a great week to practice introductions as many of the group members didn’t know one another. Each student had an opportunity to introduce him- or herself to another student, and to then introduce that student to the group.
In Cool in School boys (Tues. Oct. 21) we read the book Listen and Learn. We practiced keeping our ears open and our mouths and bodies quiet so we could listen. We also played Simon Says - a great game for practicing the skill of listening! Each group member practiced meeting another group member and putting their social skills to use. Students were encouraged to meet someone new this week.
In Success as if by Magic (Wed. Oct. 22) the boys also role played initial meetings and discussed written and invisible rules, but they added the magic trick of “catching invisible stones”. The invisible stones represent the invisible rules we all must follow to get along with others. Their homework assignment is to practice this trick. Hold the top corner of the paper bag with one hand. With the other hand, pretend to throw an invisible stone in the air. As the stone falls, pretend to catch it in the bag by snapping your fingers that are holding the bag OR by flicking the bag with your index finger. Timing is the key to this trick - that and remembering those invisible rules!
In Cool in School girls (Thurs. Oct. 23) we read the book Listen and Learn. We practiced keeping our ears open and our mouths and bodies quiet so we could listen. We also played Simon Says - a great game for practicing the skill of listening! Each group member practiced meeting another group member and putting their social skills to use. Students were encouraged to meet someone new this week.
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