Social Skills

Weller, Duncan. (2006). The Boy From the Sun. Italy: SimplyReadBooks

ISBN - 10: 1-8-94965-33-7

Fantastic short and artful story about 3 sad children.  One day a boy with a sun for a head comes down from the sky and tries to cheer them up.  He shows them wonderful things like nature, culture, differences, etc.  and the children become happy.  The book also starts with little colour, and at the end, the pages are full of colour.

This is a great story to show differences, world culture, inclusion - the list goes on. 

Presentations:

1.) Ask one  child to be the sun boy and have him stand with you at the front.  As you pause through the story, ask him to go around the circle and touch his friends on the shoulder.  When he touches them, that means they have been cheered up by the sun boy!

2.) A puppet show with facial expressions for each child can be integrated.

3.) Fingerplay can be a fun way to present this story as well as easy. You could have the sun boy on one hand and the three other children on the other hand.  The great thing about this book is that you can extend the story by making lots of puppets or pictures that the sun boy makes appear.
Provocations:

1.) Have a yellow ball with a smily face hanging from the ceiling in your circle area.

2.) Have a discussion on how everyone is feeling that day - be sure to ask everyone how they are feeling right away that day.  Then you can ask again at the end of the day

3.) A feltboard with a blank face is great.  This allows you to add and change different facial expressions.


Extentions:

1.) Art project - have ping pong balls to colour and make feelings and expressions on

2.) Toss the yellow happy ball around in a circle and explain how youère feeling

3.) Sing songs about feelings - example If you are happy and you know it

Social Skills

Baguley, Elizabeth. (2005). Meggie Moon. New York, NY: Scholastic Inc

ISBN - 10: 1-84506-443-7

Meggie Moon is a girl who likes to play with boys.  But boys at her age don`t want to play with her.  They think she is too girly, and they would rather be alone.  She comes across two boys in a junk yard and asks to play.  They tell her ``NO GIRLS ALLOWED``.  With hurt feelings she goes off to prove to the boys that she is fun.  She creates a race car and allows them to play.  Then she makes a pirate ship and a space shuttle.  The boys realize that she is very fun, and that playing with a girl can be great!  Meggie eventually has to  move and the boys are distraught.  They build a space ship to go off and find her.

This is a great story for inclusion (Specifically boys and girls including the opposite sex).  The artwork and dialogue are very enticing, allowing the children to follow along with the story very easily.

Presentation:

1.) Ask the boys and girls to sit next to a member of the opposite sex.  Pause along the story and have the children talk amoungst themselves about their ideas about what has just happened.

2.) Ask the children to act out different parts of the story as you go along.

3.) A feltboard story is great for this story because the storyline is easy to remember and follow. 
Provocations:

1.) Have a sign up in circle area that reads `NO GIRLS ALLOWED`` and see the reactions.  When the boys all migrate to the circle, switch the sign around to the back which could read `NO BOYS ALLOWED``.  Ask how they feel about the lack of inclusion.

Extentions:

1.) Have game time and ask the children to choose partners of the opposite sex

2.) Because the story is set in the junk yard, it is a great opportunity to do some recycled art.

3.) Have the group come up with activities that both boys and girls enjoy and just have fun doing those activities all together!

Social Skills

Smith, Lane. (1991). Glasses - Who Needs Èm. New York, NY: Scholastic Inc

ISBN 0-590-46087-0

This book entales a young boy needing to get glasses.  He is against the idea for fear of being ``a dork``.  His eye doctor tells him of the many, many people, animals, and objects that wear glasses.  The ideas for glasses get wackier and more comical as the book continues, and eventually the young boy realizes what he would miss out on if he couldn`t see properly.

Along with the captivating Chalk-like pictures, Smith uses different sized wording throughout his book (Which is a clever way to engage children in letters, and resembles an eye chart).  This is a great book to engage children in the idea of differences; that everyone is unique

Provocations:

1.) Make and obvious pair of glasses and wear them around the class to see what the children comment about them.

2.) Have a stuffy or puppet wearing a fake pair of glasses, sitting in your circle area

3.) You could take into context the idea of the eye, and bring in an eyechart for the children to look at (one with pictures for younger ages).

Presentations:

1.) Imagination integration - Have the children make their own glasses by shaping their fingers and putting them up to their eyes

2.) Pass around mirrors for them to look at their eyes in details (while at a pause in the book)

3.) Have the children act as the animals might if they had to wear glasses. You could also ask the children to act how the young boy is, and how he might be feeling

Extentions:

1.) Have a few pictures of famous people or heros that the children recognize, who wear glasses. (IE superman)

2.) Take pictures of each child`s face (only eyes, with little bit of nose), print them out, and have the children guess who is who.

3.) Have the children make glasses in an art project - materials could be pipecleaner, cardboard, etc.   You could also make sunglasses by using coloured cellophane with the cardboard glasses.

Social Skills

Henry, Steve. (2001). Nobody asked me. United States: Harper Collins Publishers.




ISBM # 0688178669



This story is about a cat that learns to play with a smaller kitten who has come to live with them. At first he is very unhappy that the kitten is there but he grows to become attached to him. The pictures in this book are very funny and therefore keep children’s attention. This book is also a book that is good to read to children between the ages of 3 -5 because it can also be related to having a younger sibling and at this age many children are being placed in that situation. This book is also about being included. The pictures in the book are all bright and exciting. No two pictures look the same, this is great for the children to anticipate what is going to be on the next page.



Provocations:



Place a stuff kitten Velcro on top of a large kitten and the large kitten eating a bowl of food



Presentations:



1) Felts: you will need a cat a kitten, places the kitten could be hiding, (the cubbord a bed to look under a tea pot a couch a fridge and a bath tub. You can to it as a hide and seek. You can have fabric on top on each item and have the children lift up the fabric to see if the kitten is under it.

2) Magnets: the same items you would need for the felt story

3) Shadow Play: you will need a light projector and materials to make the shadows. I recommend using the items from the felt story. You will also need a big wall to project the images on.



While telling the story I would stop on pages 9 and 10 and ask the children how they think the cat is feeling. I would also stop and ask the children how they think the cat would feel when the cat can’t find the kitten on page 21 and 22. I would then follow the question by if they have ever lost anything special and how they felt at the time.



Extensions:



1) Have the children play hide and seek

2) The children can tell us if they have ever been in a situation where they didn't like something at first but then started to enjoy it as time passed.

3) Have the children trace the outline of the shadows on paper on the wall

Social Skills

Willems, Mo. (2004). The Pigeon finds a hot dog. New York, New York: Hyperion Books for Children.


ISBN # 0786818697

This story is about sharing. The story is about how a pigeon finds a hot dog and the little duck is asking questions about it and the pigeon starts to get very frustrated with him and ends up sharing it with him. It is a book that children enjoy being told for many reasons. The pictures in the story are easy to follow. The word bubbles help the children know who is saying what. The pictures do not have background colours and objects, this allows the children to focus on the pigeon and the duck. And it moves through the actions of getting frustrated when learning to share.



Provocations:



Leave a Giant hot dog out for when the children arrive. It can be a big felt hotdog or a large plastic hot dog. But the hot dog should be in a visual place that the children will see. Perhaps in the room where the children first walk in.



Presentation:



1) Felt story: You will need a felt pigeon duck, hot dog. You can also use a large word bubble. To show who is speaking.

2) Puppets you will need a puppet duck a puppet pigeon and a hot dog

3) Act it out with another teacher, one will be the duck and one is the pigeon. To do this you can have the teachers dress up in masks.

I would stop on page 10 and ask the children what they think a hot dog tastes like. I would also stop on page 28 and ask the children what they think is going to happen.

Extensions:

1) Have the children make their own felt hotdog

2) Have the children make a hot dog out of moulding clay or play dough depending on supplies available to you

3) The children can share a story about when they share

Social Skills

Bang, Molly.(1999) When Sophie gets angry really really angry

ISBN: 0590189794


This is a book about a young girl who gets very angry at the beginning of the story. Its shows how her angry progressives, it then shows how she calms herself down. This is a good story to show children who are in preschool because it helps them relate to their emotions. The pictures are big and bright and attract children’s attention. The colours around her body change so it is exciting for children to guess what colour she will be on the next page. The language in this story is also language that children between the ages of 3 – 5 can relate to.

Provocations:

You can place pictures around the class room that are outlined in colours used in the book. The pictures can be of students, teachers, or photocopies from the book.

Presentations:

1) Do a felt story with Sophie in different colours for each page you turn. For this you will need Sophie cut out in different colour felts, a tree for her to sit in and her family members. The children can place the items on the felt board or the instructor can.

2) Do an interactive story: Have the children act out the story with you, stomping their feet and pretending to close the doors etc. This is a fun way to turn a story into a movement activity

3) Magnetic story: The same as the felt but they will be laminated and colourful magnets instead of felt.

At any point in this story you can stop and wonder with the children when they have been angry, ask them what they would do if they were Sophie, or ask the children if they can predict when Sophie will stop being angry

Extensions:

1) Trace all the children and have them outline themselves in the colour they are feeling. For this activity you will need large paper and material to colour with. (paint, markers, felts, etc)

2) Have the children draw a picture and outline them. For this activity you will need smaller pieces of paper and drawing materials

3) Have the children share with each other what they do when they are angry

Social Skills

Parenteau, Shirley. (2009). Bears on Chairs. Somerville, Massachusetts: Candlewick Press.

ISBN 978-0-7686-3588-6

This is a cute book about four little bears trying to share their chairs with a big bear. Calico Bear, Fuzzy Bear, Yellow Bear, and Floppy Bear each have a chair to themselves and they are all very happy sitting on their chairs. Then Big Brown Bear came alone but there is no more room for him. He tried to share a chair with Floppy Bear but the chair is too small for the two bears to share. Big Brown Bear is very sad so Calico Bear moved his chair to Floppy bears and the three bears tried to shared two chairs but it’s still not enough. In the end, Fuzzy Bear and Yellow Bear joined in and all five bears together found a way to solve the problem – put all four chairs together and all five bears shared one long chair.

This is a great book to use with 3-5 years old becaue the concept and the words the author used in the book is simple to understand. This book is also a good book to use while trying to teach children how to solve a problem together with their friends.

Because the story was simple, the illustrations used in this book are also very simple. The characters in the book are very colorful yet the colors used gave a warm and fuzzy feeling. 

Provocations: 

Bring in four small teddy bears, set them on four chairs in your center and one big teddy bear and sit it on the floor beside the four small bears on the chairs.

Presentations:

1) Chunking the Book - read the book to children and pause at different places and wonder with children what are the bears going to do next.

2) Audience Participation - involve children in acting out the story. You could either cut out copy of the bears or have the children pretend to be bears or be themselves in the act.

3) Puppet - use the teddy bears you brought in for the provocation and tell the story via a puppet show.

Extensions:

1) Play the game of musical chair with children following the traditional rule of eliminating participant when he/she do not get to a chair when music stop

2) Play another game the involve group cooperation - assign a certain area or a number of chairs to all children, but the area or the number of chairs should be less than the number of children. Then ask children to come out with a plan to have everyone being inside the area or sitting on the chairs. This is more appropriate for older children and in a smaller group setting.  

3) Present different objects in different amount to children and explore the concept of more and less with them via counting the quantity of the objects.

Social Skills

Bedford, David. (2001). It's My Turn. New York, New York: Scholastic Inc.

ISBN 0-439-31413-5

This book is about two friends, Oscar the dog and Tilly the cat who found a playground together but would not let one another have a turn. Tilly would not let Oscar have a turn on the slide, the jungle gym, or the merry-go-round. Then Tilly got too dizzy on the merry-go-round, Oscar finally gets his chance to play and he decided to take revenge by having Tilly wait for her turns. Then when they came across a see-saw, as they were fighting who gets to go first, they found out it's actually more fun if they play together.

This is a great book to talk about sharing with 3-5 because the situations in the book can be very easily related to for the 3-5 years old. Things like that happens all the time in their lives; at school or at home, there is always someone complaining the other person is not sharing, and so, telling this story can help them learn, sometimes, it's much more fun to share and play together. Also I think it’s also important to learn how to listen to one another. Often children do not understand that sometime, others also have the same needs as they do and if someone is not sharing a toy it could be just simply because that other person is not done with using the toy yet. I think when teaching children sharing is a nice thing to do, listening and understanding other people’s needs are also very important.

The illustrations are vibrant, simple and colorful. The pictures are big and have an exciting feel.

Provocations:

Put up a picture of Tilly and Oscar together at the playground with Tilly on a swing and Oscar standing next to Tilly look sad. The next day, have the same picture out again but this time Tilly and Oscar switch spots.

Another way to provoke this story is to obverse children as they play together during free play time, and if there is a day when a similar situation as the one Tilly and Oscar happened at your centre, take that opportunity to use the story to teach them how to solve the problem of not sharing toys/play area.

Presentation:

1) Audience Participation – let the children act out the two characters playing in the playground and tell the story through them acting like playing in the playground. It will be more effective, I think, if you have those who are having the problem sharing earlier the day to act in the story, in this way, they would be able to relate to the story more easily.

2) Puppet – bring in a cat and a dog stuffed animal and have a puppet show. The story then does not necessarily need to be based in a playground; you could use any setting you could come up with.

3) Chunking the book – stop and pause at places in the book and ask children what do they think the character’s feeling would be when their friend kept saying no and would not let them have a turn?

Extension:

1) Involve children into implementing a plan in which they could use to help them share or express their needs. For example, ask them what should they do if they needed something other is using? Ask them other than themselves, what should they consider? Do they need to listen to the other person? (For example: in our centre, we have a sign-up board for LEGO after a few too many complains about people not sharing. On the sign up board, there are only a number of slots for people who want to play to sign-up and a waiting list area for those who are waiting to play next. When children sign up to play LEGO, a teacher will then come to add a clock besides his/her name so the child would know when he/she is expected to leave the LEGO and let others to have their turns.)

2) Take the children to play at the playground to have a fun day. As they are playing if situations like the ones in the story appear, remind them of the story they’ve just read in class and ask what should they do?

3) Build a playground with the students with blocks. Get everyone in the class to get involve into the project and have everyone pitch in some suggestions. This is a good activity to promote team work.

Social Skills

Bland, Nick. (2009). The Very Cranky Bear. Toronto, Ontario: Scholastic Canada Ltd.


ISBN 978-0-545-98614-4

It was raining in the Jingle Jangle Jungle and four friends, Moose, Lion, Zebra, and Sheep were looking for a place to play and stay dry from the rain. They thought they have found the perfect place until they encounter a VERY CRANKY BEAR! The four friends decided they would each give Bear something special to cheer him up - some fantastic stripes from Zebra, a pair of marvelous antlers from Moose, and a golden mane from Lion, and as for Sheep, well, Sheep is just plain. Moose, Lion, and Zebra thought that would cheer Bear up but instead, he was even CRANKIER then ever! What Bear really wanted was just a good night sleep, so after knowing what Bear really wanted, Sheep decided to help him too. She found a clipper and clipped off half of her wool, stuffed them in a cotton bag to make a pillow and gave it to Bear, and with the lovely pillow, Bear was able to fall fast asleep and all the other friends can play and stay out of the rain. Sheep might be plain; she was the one who save the day.

Sometimes, children do not understand that what they like most do not necessarily means that everyone else would like it as much as they do. This book would be a fantastic book to share with children and teach them although sharing is a nice thing to do; sometimes it's important to listen to what other people have in mind.

The illustrations are very appropriate. The way the author (which is also the illustrator) place the pictures and the characters in each page is very clever; it is as though the pictures are different senses in a movie. The picture in the front of the picture set the tone of the story and some what give away what is coming in the story. So if you are planning to use this book and want to have your children guess what is coming next, you might want to save the cover for last.

Provocations:

I would photocopy and magnify the cranky bear in the cover and place it on a felt board or bulletin board and let the children wonder why the bear looks so cranky. Then the next day, I would put out another picture, this time the cranky bear with all the things the other animals have added onto him and again, let the children wonder what is making the bear so cranky. Then on the same day or the next day, I would read the story with the cover of the book covered up.

Presentations:

1) Reading the book with the cover covered up and stop and pause here and there and wonder with children what is happening in the story and what could they do to solve the problem? Ask them if they know why is bear so cranky?

2) Felt Story - I would simply draw/photocopy the animals out myself and laminate them and use them with a felt board. Be sure to also make the pieces for the antlers, stripes and mane for the cranky bear.

3) Audience Participation – make different masks for different animals and have the children act out the story together. To make it even more interesting, teacher could also bring in different props for the antlers, mane and stripes.

Extensions:

1) Have a discussion with children and ask question such as "how would you feel if someone (your friends, mommy, daddy etc) made you do something you don't like?" Ask them how would they feel if they were trying to express themselves at home or at school but no one listen?

2) Photocopy (or draw) the cranky bear from the book, provide different arts and crafts material such as ribbons, paints, felt pens, pom-poms, etc and have children sit and create their very own cranky bear.

3) Making rice pack – prepare some small cotton bags with a small opening and some rice, have children sit down and scoop some rice into the cotton bags. Teachers then can either sew the bag up or use some fabric adhesive tape to seal the opening. The rice bag could be use as a ice pack (if it was put in the freezer) or a heat pack (if put in the microwave for approx 1-2mins) for relaxation.