Description
How many times does something small happen and students just get stuck?
They were planning on PBJ today, but the cafeteria ran out and now the day is ruined. Or maybe they were sure they had music only to find out it is art- which means the rest of the day is going to be behavior after behavior.
Did you know you can actually teach kids how to be flexible thinkers during moments like this?
This Flexible Thinking Mini Unit is a week-long unit that helps your students learn to recognize things that they normally view as road blocks, help them identify ways to work around them, and scenarios to practice.
This resource gives you everything you need to explicitly teach students how to become flexible thinkers in short, meaningful lessons your students will actually enjoy. Each day builds on the last, helping kids recognize when they come upon something that is a roadblock and then finding an alternative route.
Flexible Thinking Mini Unit Outline
DAY ONE: What is flexible thinking?
- Social Narrative about flexible thinking (incudes Google slides, color PDF, and BW take home story)
- Classroom Poster
- Activity to help students separate scenarios from roadblocks and flexible thinking
DAY TWO: Identifying Roadblocks
- Social Narrative about common roadblocks (incudes Google slides, color PDF, and BW take home story)
- Activity to reflect on their own roadblocks
- Classroom Poster
DAY THREE: Learning to Reroute
- Social Narrative about their rerouting toolkit (incudes Google slides, color PDF, and BW take home story)
- Classroom poster
- Activity to make their own Rerouting Toolkit
- Scenarios to practice
DAY FOUR: When Plans Change
- Social Narrative about what to do when plans change (incudes Google slides, color PDF, and BW take home story)
- Activity to make their own detour plan
DAY FIVE: Being a Flexible Thinker: Putting It All Together
- Activity for students to reflect on how they will use their new flexible minds
- Certificates to celebrate students’ new skills
Each day comes with a detailed lesson plan with learning targets, guiding questions, and step by step instructions.
This is a ZIP file that includes Google slides and PDFs.
