What are Social Skills?Think / Pair / Share

Think of someone you know who has good social skills.

What does it look like to have good social skills?

What does it look like to have bad social skills?

Think of social skills in this way: “sharing space with others effectively” or “interacting

and adapting to others across situations.”

What do you see?

What is Social Thinking?Social thinking is an intuitive process that allows us to consider points of view, emotions, and intentions of others. In most children, social thinking is hard-wired neurologically at birth and learned intuitively from infancy.For those with social learning challenges, we have to cognitively teach them how to think socially.

Michelle Garcia Winner www.socialthinking.com

Simply Put….

Social thinking is what we do when we interact with people: we think about them. And how we think about people affects how we behave, which in turn affects how others respond to us, which in turn affects our own emotions.

Rashi’s Commitment to the Whole Child

http://www.casel.org/

Connecting Social Thinking and Responsive Classroom

Goal for our students:Create and maintain a positive learning community and to teach self-regulation.

What teaching practices support children’s social and emotional development?

• Teaching routines• Establishing expectations• Explicitly teaching common language• Fostering positive relationships • Structured reflection• Modeling • Role-playing • Mindfulness

Essential Questions Kindergarten What does it mean to be a friend? How do we share interests and differences?

1st GradeHow do I maintain friendships? What can I learn from my mistakes?

2nd GradeWhat makes a good friend? How do actions influence relationships?

How do we think socially?Through our thoughts, words and actions.

EYESWORDS

BODY - Actions

Feelings and thoughts - MEMORIES

Thinking Socially Requires Social Thinking

Helpful Vocabulary: Whole Body Listening Thinking With Our Eyes Body in the Group Brain in the Group Expected and Unexpected Behaviour Perspective Taking

What does Whole Body Listening Look

Like?•Listening with the eyes (Look at the speaker)•Listening with the mouth (Closed and quiet)•Listening with the body (Facing the Speaker)•Listening with the hands (quietly at the side of the body or in the lap)•Listening with the feet (standing still or quietly on the floor)•Listening with the brain (thinking about what the speaker is saying)•Listening with the heart (caring about what the speaker is saying)

By Kristen Wilson and Elizabeth Sautter

Thinking With Our Eyes

It is more than eye contact. We get a lot of information about people when

looking at them. Joint Attention - the ability to follow someone’s

eyes to see what they are looking at and determine what the person is thinking about. This typically develops at 9 – 12 months of age.

This helps to read others plans and anticipate what others are going to do.

Body in the Group

Our physical presence lets others know we are a part of the group.

Not only do we need to be close to those we wish to interact with, we need to have our bodies facing towards that person as well.

Successful social interactions depend on our bodies as much as our words.

Establishing our physical presence is a crucial

precursor to an interaction.

Interactive LessonsBuilding on the stories by Authors: Ryan E. Hendrix, Kari Zweber Palmer, Nancy Tarshis, Michelle Garcia Winner

Strategies to help build emotional regulation: • Mindfulness• Resiliency • Visualization• 4 – 7- 8 Breath

HOW BIG IS THE PROBLEM?

HOW BIG IS THE REACTION?

Expected and Unexpected There are expected and unexpected

behaviours within groups. People notice how others are behaving and

recognize if they are following the hidden or unwritten social rules.

People remember how you made them feel rather than what you said.

As with any Social Thinking concepts these rules are dynamic and constantly changing.

Developing Problem Solving Skills• Teaching the hidden rule

• Importance of flexible thinking

• Sizing up the problem and finding solutions

• Working collaboratively

Resources

http://www.susankaisergreenland.com/inner-kids-1/(mindful activities for kids)

https://www.socialthinking.com/ http://www.gozen.com/ (animation videos to support emotional

regulation) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h51lgvjI_Zk (how to build a

integrated child / Daniel Siegel) http://www.drrobertbrooks.com/ (Resilience, Motivation, and

Family Relationships) http://efpractice.com/ (Executive Functioning / Sara Ward)