Back To School Means Reviewing Manners and Rules...OVER, AND OVER, AND OVER AGAIN!

     I have to confess, that as much as I DREAD the thought of these beautiful, lazy summer days coming to an end...I am starting to get that ITCH! (No, nothing that involves creams, doctors, or difficult talks with your significant other.) I mean that back to school, "I can't wait to teach them something new" itch!

Because the bottom line is...

         
     But, the thing I DREAD about those first couple of weeks back, is the amount of time that needs to be spent on reviewing and teaching manners, rules, and routines! Oh, there is no doubt that it has to be done! A successful school year hinges on the delivery of rules, routines, and manners from the very beginning! BUT...

THE MONOTONY! I mean, honestly...

   

     We get our classrooms all fancied up, we do everything we can to make those sweet little pumpkins EXCITED to come back to school....and then we TALK, AND TALK, AND TALK, about their LEAST favorite thing....RULES, ROUTINES, AND MANNERS!

     Well, I am here to tell you...I have come up with a solution my friends! Last year I decided that I couldn't look at one more ZONED OUT, ZOMBI-FIED FIRSTIE anymore while I was talking about such important things. So I created a series of social stories to use to help me get the job done!

Guess what?! It worked! The kids LOVED them! They loved that I wasn't just TALKING at them, but I was READING to them... STORIES...about kids just like them! The BEST discussions came out of these social stories. Especially because we read them OVER, AND OVER, AND OVER again.

     Sometimes we read them in book form, sometimes I projected them onto the SmartBoard and we read them from there, and sometimes, the kids got the copies of the stories from the class library, and sat together on the rug reading their favorites together.

Each time I created a new social story, the kids couldn't get to the rug fast enough for Read Aloud time to hear all about what "those kids who are just like them" were doing next!

I plan on starting the first week of school with four of the most basic Back To School routines or manners that need to be put into place FAST- HALLWAY MANNERS, CAFETERIA MANNERS, PLAYGROUND MANNERS, AND FIRE DRILL MANNERS. (There is a method to my madness here...I choose these first because let's face it, these all involve taking our class OUTSIDE OF OUR FOUR WALLS...WHERE OTHER PEOPLE WILL SEE US!!!! YOU CAN'T FAKE THESE PEOPLE!!! Your students will give up your secrets in a minute when they are outside of those four walls! GET THESE PROCEDURES DOWN FAST!)

(Of course the stories are longer than four pages, but I wanted to give you an idea of what is covered in the stories and how I cover it.) 

Using these social stories have been especially useful for students with behavior disorders or students with autism or even students who are new to the classroom or shy or anxious. These are some of the other titles we use in our classroom. (These are all available in my TPT store.)

I cannot stress to you enough how these stories have changed the way my students look at RULES, ROUTINES, AND MANNERS now! They CANNOT wait to learn more, hear more, talk about more!

I SO want you to experience this excitement too, that I am having a BACK TO SCHOOL SOCIAL STORY GIVEAWAY!!! 

I am giving away a BACK TO SCHOOL SOCIAL STORY MEGA BUNDLE from my store!

This bundle contains ALL the social stories from the One Giggle At A Time Series! ($50.00 in my store...$66.00 if you buy them all separately!) Enter the Rafflecopter below to win! Have a GREAT BACK TO SCHOOL ADVENTURE!

XXOO