2nd Steps Social Skills

Our 2^nd Steps and Social Skills lessons that took place before and after April break revolved around Solving Problems and Fair Ways to Play.

The "Safe Talk" sponsored by Kids in Crisis was around the same time and was so informative!  The students were given the chance to practice the safety yell, the pinky pull, and ask some questions in a small group setting.

The students practiced the steps in Problem Solving :

Say the problem

Think of solutions

Explore consequences

Pick the best solution

* It is important for children to realize that they must not act impulsively or aggressively.  If they have strong feeling before they try to solve a problem, they first need to calm down.  Then, they will be in a better, clearer-thinking position to take the time to explore consequences.  With practice, children will realize that if they think through the effects of their choices, they will be able to pick a solution that solves the problem and also takes people’s feelings into account. 

The solutions they may come up with could involve:  compromise with safe and respectful solutions, thinking of the other person’s point of view, sharing, trading, and taking turns.

You can try some exploring consequences scenarios by thinking about “If….. then…..” and hopefully better solutions will be picked as this skill is developed.

Possible scenarios:

*You and a friend arrive first in line, but only one person can be “first.”

*You climbed on the same part of the equipment someone else is on, and there’s only room for one of you.

*You want to play “tag” at recess and a friend wants to practice some dance moves.

*A classmate took all the lego wheels at choice time and you wanted to build a race car.

*The magazine picture you wanted to use for symmetry was taken by somebody else.

*A classmate grabbed a book you wanted for DEAR time.