Student Funnies :: How they spend their recess

Me: Sorry guys. I can't keep you for recess. I have another group coming in.

2nd Graders: That's ok. We have plans for recess.

Me: Oh, you do?

2nd Graders: Yeah! The girls are chasing us.

Wouldn't want to miss that!

New Product :: Social Emotional Trivia Games

All right...so it's getting to that time of year when I really start running out of new ideas for my social skills and counseling groups. I feel like there's only so many ways we can go over controlling anger before I (and they) are ready to pull our hair out. It seems like at least once a week someone asks me, "but can't we play a game on your computer?"

And really, they have a point. I mean, there are so many websites that have reading and math games, but far fewer that have counseling and social work games. So, I made these!  They're Jeopardy-style trivia games in Powerpoint format that cover a whole bunch of different topics. Even my squirmy kids pay attention :)

Each has 24 editable questions to help kids learn about a variety of social and emotional skill topics:

- Anger Control
- Bullying
- Feelings
- Friendship
- Peer Pressure

The questions are just "think and answer" questions either. I made sure to make it interactive, so they'll be drawing, acting, thinking, and talking! And while I don't have a Smartboard, a few lucky people I've talked to do and they've been able to use this on their as well for a whole class.

So hop on over to my store and pick them up for yourself!  There's also a version for Divorce that's free if you'd like to try it out first!

New Product :: Holiday Social Emotional Activity Pack

Need some holiday-themed activities? Check out this activity pack! It's got lots of fun social-emotional learning activities that will be sure to keep your students' interest!

This activity pack contains several social skills, anger management, and social emotional activities in a fun holiday theme! It contains the following 10 activities:

- Emotion Matching Candy Canes


- 24 “Naughty or Nice?” School Rules Cards


- Compliment Skiing Activity


- Positive Thinking Skiing Activity
- “I’m Unique Because…” Snowflake Class Activity
- “The Children Were Nestled” Positive Thoughts Activity


- Christmas, Hanukkah, and Holiday Wishes Sheets
- “Don’t Have a Meltdown” Snowman Activity w/ 35 Coping Strategy Cards (strategies also available in Coping Skills Bingo Game)

Activities are presented in PDF format in color and in black and white and include answer keys when applicable!

Sale :: Cyber Monday + Tuesday!

Visit my TeacherspayTeachers store today and tomorrow and enter the code "CMT12" to save 28% on everything!

Student Funnies :: My Portrait

One of my students is a very good artist. She drew me the following picture of myself today. I do have to say, she gives me much to much credit for being able to walk in heeled boots and grow Repunzel-esque hair!  Nonetheless, it is proudly hanging in my room now, even if there's no way I can possibly live up to it!

Student Funnies :: My leg...

Student: My leg is swollen. I have to go to the hospital after school to get it x-rated.

Me: Oh, I'm sorry to hear that!

Me (thinking): I didn't realize hospitals were doing that now. They really are becoming full-service!

New Product :: Graphic Organizer Pack

I don't know you, but one of the more frustrating things about working with students with ADD or ADHD is how difficult it is to teach them executive functioning skills, you know, things like problem solving, prioritization, planning, organization, and working memory!

And I think part of the difficulty for me was that I wasn't really ever trained how to teach these things! I mean, I'm a social worker! I'll give you charts, coping strategies, visual schedules, blah blah blah...but teaching a kid organization?  Can't they just LEARN to keep their desk clean and take notes like everyone else?

And right there's the key...they CAN'T just learn "like everyone else."

By the nature of ADD and ADHD, these students' brains can be a place where information gets misfiled, forgotten, and confused (if it even gets through their ears to begin with!) We can't just tell a student with attention difficulties information and expect them to process, store, and remember it. School is often an auditory place, but it's just not going to happen! Even students that make medication that may help them focus don't necessarily "magically" gain executive functioning skills.

So this is where I came in. Ideally, executive functioning skills are taught to every student, in the context of a great general curriculum. But we all know that ideally and realistically aren't always the same thing. So I ended up with tons of kids who couldn't organize information in their brains and as a result had a really difficult time learning.

After a lot of trial and error, I learned that graphic organizers are HUGELY helpful for kids with ADD and ADHD (and really, most kids!) The only thing is, most graphic organizers were SUPER boring and very specific for a certain subject. I wanted general graphic organizers that I could use for everything from academic subjects to relationships and life situations.

So I made my own :) I put some of them into my Organization Activities for Students with ADHD, but here are 26 of them! In addition to being usable for any subject or situation, they're also super colorful and can hold students' attention a lot easier than plain old boring black and white.

One thing I did (that saved me tons of colored ink), was print them in color and laminate them. Then, students can fill them out in my room with dry erase marker, I can make a copy to keep or give to them, and then erase them for the next week or the next kid.

Here is what's included:

- Lined 3-Column Chart
- Unlined 3-Column Chart
- Answer Organization Sheet
- Cause & Effect
- Lined 2-Column Chart
- Unlined 2-Column Chart
- 4-Step Cycle
- 5-Step Cycle
- Fact & Opinion
- Cause & Effect Fishbone
- Idea Web
- 4-Section Wheel
- 8-Section Wheel
- Triangle Chart
- Inverted Triangle Chart
- Main Idea Web
- Positives & Negatives
- The Five 5’s Table
- 5 Senses Chart
- 3-Step Sequence
- 6-Step Sequence
- Story Parts Organizer
- 2-Part Venn Diagram
- 3-Part Venn Diagram
- Organization Web

Enjoy :)

New Product :: Organization Activities for Students with ADHD

This year, millions more students will be diagnosed with ADHD. In fact, I'd venture to say it is one of THE most common disorders teachers and special education staff come across (second only perhaps to Learning Disabilities).

While these students often struggle with demonstrating appropriate behavior at school, ADD and ADHD often causes even more difficulties with executive functioning and organization. Often, students struggle with picking important details out of situations and stories, sequencing events, organizing information they encounter in life and in lessons, and maintaining a positive self-esteem. Usually, a student's "hyper" behavior will decrease as they age, but these difficulties remain.

The interesting thing, is that the disruptive behaviors many of my students have had, have actually decreased on their own after we've been able to address the cognitive difficulties, especially in 4-6 grades!  Cool huh?

Along the way, I've made a whole lot of my own activities for my students. This download is a collection of a lot of these executive functioning activities. Enjoy it free here until 11/3 for all of you loyal readers!  After that, it'll be available here. It contains:

Activities Include:

Graphic Organizers:
- 3-Step Sequence
- 6-Step Sequence
- Contrast Table
- Idea Web
- Main Idea Organizer
- Weekly Organizer
- Answer Organizer
- Venn Diagram

Sequencing Activities:
- Making a Pizza
- Making a Snowman
- Washing Your Hands
- Making Microwave Popcorn
- Getting Ready for School

Other Activities:
- Behavior Remote Control
- Lesson Organization Sheet
- Space Reminder Foot Mat
- Self-Esteem Booster Sheet
- On-Task or Off-Task Checklist

Enjoy!!

New Product :: 180 Social Skills Cards: The Ultimate Pack

This is a follow-up post to the freebie Feelings Cards I just posted recently! I created this social skills curriculum after realizing that many of the best curricula out there just break down complex social skills into small steps for students. This download includes all 180 cue cards (with decorative card backs) for 30 different social skills from the following card packs:

Each skill is broken down into the mental and physical skills needed to carry out the task successfully, so that they can be taught individually. Cards include visuals for students that cannot read. A few cards are left blank to be customized if needed.

Skills Include:
- Tattling and Reporting
- Dealing with Anger
- Identifying Emotions
- Apologizing
- Setting a Goal
- Dealing with Peer Pressure
- Following Directions
- Choosing Friends
- Starting a Conversation

and 21 more!

As a special thank you to all of you followers, get it here free for the next week! After that, it'll be available on my TpT store :)

Fun Freebie :: Social Skills Cards: Feelings Pack

Many social skills curricula take basic social skills and break them into small steps for students to learn individually. Unfortunately, many of those are quite expensive and if your school is anything like mine, administrators aren't flooding your offices with money to spend. So, I made my own! This pack is available for free on TeacherspayTeachers and contains skill cards for 5 crucial empathy and emotional regulation skills (30 cards in all with decorative card backs):

1. Expressing Your Feelings
2. Dealing with Stress
3. Dealing with Anger
4. Identifying Others' Feelings
5. Responding to Others' Negative Feelings

Each skill is broken down into the mental and physical skills needed to carry out the task successfully, so that they can be taught individually. Cards include visuals for students that cannot read. I use these cards with almost all my social skills groups, but I've noticed they work especially well for students with Autism!

If you're interested, I also have 5 other packs available as well, so check out my store and save yourself tons of plan time!

New Product :: Social Skills Activities for Girls

Children with Autism, emotional disability, or other social deficits struggle with impairments in many areas - relationships, communication skills, emotional regulation, and organization to name a few. This pack contains numerous activities to be used individually or combined to make a survival guide binder for a student with social difficulties.

This binder is designed to be carried or accessible at all times to help provide support to students in a colorful, fun way that is sure to grab their attention! It contains the same activities as Social Skills Activities for Boys, but with a more "girl-friendly" design:

- School
- Friends
- School & Community
- Feelings
- Write it Out!

Activities Include:
- All About Me Page
- Characteristics of a Good Friend
- Drawing Feelings
- Taking a Break Tips
- Feelings Thermometer
- Home vs. School Rules
- Conversation Tips
- Feeling Words Vocabulary
- I-Statement Page
- "I'm Stressed" Strategy Sheet

and many more!

All documents are presented in PDF format (except for the customizable cover, which is in Microsoft Word).

Enjoy!

New Product :: Social Skills Activities for Boys

Children with Autism, emotional disability, or other social deficits struggle with impairments in many areas - relationships, communication skills, emotional regulation, and organization to name a few. This pack contains numerous activities to be used individually or combined to make a survival guide binder for a student with social difficulties.

This binder is designed to be carried or accessible at all times to help provide support to students in a colorful, fun way that is sure to grab their attention! It contains the same activities as Social Skills Activities for Girls, but with a more "boy-friendly" design.

- School
- Friends
- School & Community
- Feelings
- Write it Out!

Activities Include:
- All About Me Page
- Characteristics of a Good Friend
- Drawing Feelings
- Taking a Break Tips

- Feelings Thermometer
- Home vs. School Rules
- Conversation Tips
- Feeling Words Vocabulary
- "What Should I Say?" Social Planning Sheet

- "I'm Stressed" Strategy Sheet
- I-Statement Page

and many more!

All documents are presented in PDF format (except for the customizable cover, which is in Microsoft Word).

Enjoy!

New Product :: Dealing with Anger Activity Pack

My students often have difficulty dealing with anger in safe, appropriate ways. These are some of my go-to activities in my counseling groups. They help students to discover what anger feels like, what triggers their anger, and what they can do to cope with being angry. It includes the following:

- DeBug Poster
- Coping Strategy Visual Aid
- List of Coping Skills (editable)
- “Things that Bug Me” Worksheet
- “Angry Body” Worksheet
- Conflict Pathway Graphic Organizer
- Trigger Checklist (editable)
- Anger Thermometer Poster
- Anger Scenario Cards (editable - also found in "Social Skills Land Game")

Forms are presented in PDF format, except for the editable items, which you can adjust in Microsoft Word to meet your students' needs. Have fun!

New Product :: Social Skills Land

Sometimes we have to disguise learning into games! Students love Candyland®, but don't always like talking about bullying, anger control, or problem-solving. This was one of the very first games I started playing with my students after getting my first job as a school social worker. I kept wanting to find something I could grab quickly if I didn't have time to plan for a group (yeah...because that never happens, right!?)

This contains 144 EDITABLE cards (with decorative card backs) of the following types to increase pragmatic social skills and problem-solving skills in students ages 5-13:

- Anger Control
- Positive Thinking
- Debugging (Ignore, Walk Away, Speak Friendly, Speak Firmly, Get an Adult)
- Bullying
- Feelings
- Friendship

Students of all ability levels love moving their piece along the same Candyland® board they've come to know and love, and hardly even realize they're learning at the same time!

Example Questions:

1) Talk about a time when you saw someone else being a good friend.
2) MAKE IT POSITIVE! I’ll probably fail this test just like the other ones.
3) Draw a scared person.
4) TRUE or FALSE? Teachers don’t want to hear about problems at home.
5) Sasha said that only popular girls can play with the jump ropes at recess. What should you do or say?
6) Act out what an angry person would look like.

Review :: Erin Condren Life Planner

I honestly can't remember where I heard about the Erin Condren Life Planner, but it's something I tell other people about constantly now!

Ever since graduating college and getting my first social work job, I have looked forward to shopping for my school planner each year. I think it goes back to always looking forward to school supply shopping. Since I don't have the use for new scissors, gym shoes, and rulers every year, getting a planner fills that void!

My only difficulty comes with my desire for color-coding, prettyness, and customization, which unfortunately isn't found in most "adult" planners :(





Uh...yeah gee, these types of things make me look forward to my full day of meetings ahead! There's been some sites in the past where you can personalize the size, format, and some colors on the planner, but it's generally pretty limited and most of them have gone out of business after a year or too.

Which is why I actually started screaming when I found this (seriously, ask my husband...he thought I was crazy!) Erin Condren has finally done what I've been begging planner companies for: created a planner that is customizable, very cute, and makes me excited about the day ahead each time I look at it. It also comes with customizable stickers if you'd like. I mean, what other planner can you get that comes with stickers of your family members' faces!?

I will say they are a bit pricier than ordinary planners you'd get at Office Max or Staples, but honestly, you're going to spend at least 10 minutes each day looking at it so you may as well like it! The price tag sting disappears the moment I got my planner and has never resurfaced again. SO worth it!

Here are a few pictures of my planner!







P.S. Make sure you order early. They take a couple weeks to make and ship (they're making yours completely individually, after all!) I ordered mine toward the end of July and got it in time for the start of school about 3 weeks later.