You are a social detective! ((product review!))

I recently received a copy of “You are a Social Detective!” by Michelle Garcia Winner & Pamela Crooke.  This is a great book for explaining social thinking to kids.  Not familiar with social thinking?  Learn more about it by clicking HERE!!  This book is part of the Social Thinking program which I highly recommend to all those working with students with social skills goals.

This book is a comic book!  How motivating!  This adorable detective cartoon will teach your students all they need to know about social skills!  You can use it over and over again with your students to review their social skills.  There are three different sections: school smarts/social smarts & expected behavior, unexpected behavior, and being a social detective.  It is best to use this book combined with real life discussions and role playing activities!

This book refers to “social smarts.”  This teaches students that you are always thinking about others and others are thinking about us.  You use these smarts whenever you are around people.  How great of a concept to teach our students?!

This book also talks about expected and unexpected behaviors.  What do you expect people to do socially in school, on the playground, and in conversations?  The behaviors that you cannot predict or expect others to do is called unexpected!  Examples:  child not doing what their parents tell them, not paying attention to a teacher, and saying mean words.  This book teaches students that these unexpected behaviors can make others feel uncomfortable. 

It teaches students that it is important to know what is expected and that each different place/situation can have different expectations!  Being a social detective means that you are using your social smarts (aka all of these learned skills!).   If students use clues from all around them and run them through their brains (think about it), students then can figure out how to behave in all different places. 

The book asks students questions to elicit conversation about what they've learned in the book! 

What else does the book include? 

-A list of new vocabulary words and definitions discussed in the book about social detectives and social smarts

-Notes to parents about carryover and where they can find more resources

-3 social lessons to use in conjunction with this book!

My suggestions for carryover activities:

-Role play expected and unexpected social scenarios

-Sort pictures and sentences which depict expected and unexpected social behaviors

-Sort expected social behaviors into different locations: school, home, stores, etc.

-Students can make their own social detectives comic strip using what they've learned!

-Practice being detectives!  Give students clues and they must determine what others are thinking, going to say, and expected to do!  For example:  A student is in class and sitting at their desk in the back of the room.  The teacher is writing on the board the homework.  How is the student expected to do, look, say, and feel?

Want to more learn about this book? Visit their website to learn how you can access this $20 book by clicking HERE!